This will sound strange but I believe you should have a go at making a few million just for the fun of it.

People who have a one-to-one consultation with me will know that I am fond of asking: "What other plans do you have, apart from trying your very hardest to be all you can be, to fight to dare and to win?"

Let me ask you - what other plans could you possibly have that are more pressing than this? Flipping magazines? Watching some more TV? Drinking down the bar? I'm anxious to hear them...

Surely there is only one plan worth having? At least it seems that way to me. The only plan a rational human being can have is to be all you are capable of being. To push the limits and keep growing until the day you die. To try for that next goal - to shoot for the bigger dream. This is a masterful life. A life filled with power. A life worth living.

But there is a price. The price is a busy life with little time for standard relaxation of the sort engaged in by the poor in pocket and in spirit. It is a 'full to bursting' life with your energies and talents directed purposefully towards positive goals. I'll have a lot to say about goals and dreams throughout these articles. It is a focused life in which you work very hard on things which matter.

That's one price you will have to pay. There are others...

* You will be a driven person going from project to project.

* You will be endlessly fascinated by life and challenges.

* You will take on too much.

* Your social life will not be good because you will be unwilling to squander the endless hours it takes to maintain the dozens of friendships and acquaintances craved by the insecure. That's the truth.

* Most people will not understand you. They can't understand why you don't want to waste hundreds of hours chatting, drinking, reading tabloid newspapers and watching soap-operas.

What else?

Ah yes, I forgot to mention that almost the entire world will be against you. Most people will consider you 'lucky' to have made some money. To them, making money is a purely random event which happens accidentally 'to' someone for no effort on their part.

They spend their lives sitting around waiting for this miracle to happen to them. When it happens to you, and you get 'lucky' (after twenty years of solid effort) many people will be jealous.

You will lose a lot of friends.

When you become wealthy, it is just too hard for your friends to cope with because the implication is that they could do it too - and that would mean work and effort. That's bad news. They'd rather avoid you or bring you down than be faced with your silent accusation every day.

The state is against you too.

They loathe wealthy people because wealth brings personal power and individual freedom. The state detests it if a worker drone has personal power. They prefer faceless production units hovering in a no man's land of false hope, kept just above the absolute poverty line by confiscatory taxation.

The burden is carefully calculated to stop just short of causing people to riot in the streets. It is designed to allow people to have some small hope of dragging themselves out of debt one day, or being able to pay the daily bills.

They do not like strong-minded, wealthy individualists. They will seek to break you down to drone status if you ever threaten to get above your station.

When people are broke, they are part of the tacit conspiracy which gives others the mandate to loot at their command.

They give their silent permission because, let's face it, they are net recipients of the loot. Perhaps this was you, too? But when you have some real money, the jackboots are marching down your drive and it is your door which is being kicked in. That's a different (and non-transferable) experience.

You've got that one to come...

When you try to accumulate money, strangers will stretch out their hands and claim 'their' share of your money - and their demands are backed by legalized state violence. Resist and you will be jailed.

Your protests fall upon deaf ears.

Governments operate through the tyranny of the majority. Whatever most people clamour for, that's what is given.

Anyway you're 'lucky' to be wealthy, remember? This was not caused by any action on your part. It's just a random event which happened 'to' you - or so everyone seems to think, and so it's only 'fair' that your wealth is confiscated and distributed to the needy. All this, and more will be your lot.

--Stuart Goldsmith

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Like it, loath it, save it or blow it, the choice is yours. But you simply cannot ignore it. Money is important - it has few equals. When it speaks, people listen... often without interrupting. It can help you realize - or derail - your dreams. It most definitely counts.

Money is said to be a blessing...and the root of all evil. Too much or too little emphasis on making and saving money can warp your perspective. The fact is that money is not the first priority in happy people's lives. Health, relationships with family and friends, career satisfaction, and spiritual growth are all more important.

Still, money touches every part of your life. You work hard for it. It is tied up with your deepest emotional needs for love, power, security, independence, control, and self-worth. It affects your relationships, the way you go about your everyday activities... everything.

Money is always on its way somewhere. What you do with it while it is in your keeping and the direction you send it in say much about you. Your treatment of and respect for money, how you make it, and how you spend it, reflect your character.

When it comes to money, the fundamentals remain constant. The basics are simple, truth has not changed, our environment and how we function continually changes, but the fundamentals do not.

Spring always follows winter, water always runs downhill, and the sun will always rise in the east. These are fundamental truths. It has been this way throughout recorded history. So too are the fundamentals that govern money. Paying yourself first, saving for a rainy day and never spending more than you earn is solid wisdom for any age.

Unfortunately, many people prefer to skip right on by the basics, they don't do their homework and finally acquire some knowledge, through the bitter pill of experience. This is like learning to drive by having a series of accidents. Keep this in mind, if you do not profit from your investment mistakes, someone else will.

Money is a faithful, loyal servant and we are its master. It allows us to do more for others and ourselves. However when we get into debt, the roles change and we find ourselves in the position of slave. The person who owes money is a servant to the person or to the corporation who lends the money.

What is it with money? Where's the mystery? The paper you fold and place in your pocket is not money. It's paper with ink on it. It symbolizes money, but it's certainly not money. Money is all about idea and value creation. The earning of money has nothing to do with the pulp of paper.

Money is a reward you receive for the service you render, and the more value you offer, the greater will be your reward. Thinking of ways we can be of greater service to our customers, our employers and employees will not only help us earn more money, it will also enable us to grow intellectually and spiritually. A focus on value creation is the hallmark of success.

Retirement, college expenses, buying a home, better quality of life, getting in shape, paying off debt, or starting and growing a business, whatever it is, start by knowing your goals. It's the foundation of your investment strategy.

Use my goal setting strategies to achieve any financial goal you desire - it will be one of the best investments you'll ever make and you'll save big in the process.

Financial ignorance is not bliss, it is not something to take pride in, nor is it something you want to pass on to future generations as what you don't know, can and will hurt you. You owe it to yourself, your family and your future to learn and apply the fundamentals of saving and investing. It all begins with clearly identified goals.

---Gary Ryan Blair is President of The GoalsGuy.

Over the course of my 20 years in the trading arena, poker business, and sports oddsmaking, certain inalienable qualities seem to resonate in those exhibiting consistent success. The process to acquire this skill set is by no means assured and represents a constant work in progress. A process invariably leading us through multiple peaks and valleys, calling into question what compels us to compete in a trading arena that oscillates so easily from unimaginably predicable to perversely difficult.

These attributes are applicable on a much grander scale, as they transcend the world of trading and investing. If you're reading this article, odds are you possess a certain entrepreneurial zeal and penchant for taking on risk. Great leaders, doctors, lawyers, and other prominent people in society will usually possess many, if not all, of these qualities.

These 10 attributes are so important that they make up the core training I conduct for those that attend my mentorship program, any in person multi-day workshop, or those who decide to invest in my fund. They are not listed in any particular order of preference, as all have great significance and overlap with each other. I implore you to use them as a template to decide what is important and how to incorporate them to make substantive improvements to your trading and personal life.

1. Heart/Courage
Trading is a business necessitating one does things causing some degree of consternation from time to time. Trading is an institution yielding few victors at the end of the day. As a result, having the ability to buck the crowd is something which can help you achieve great things. An example of this occurs when a trade setup happens and one must battle the potential pain of a losing trade with the desire to make money. In hindsight, many of these spots look easy after the fact, but the truth remains in real time one must have a great deal of courage to pull the trigger.

2. Intuition
A qualitative virtue recognized by few and held by even less. Our intuition is the byproduct of the analysis performed by our subconscious. It acts much like a muscle and requires exercise to develop and grow. Like a muscle, neglect can cause atrophy. Traders with a strong intuition built on a strong trading strategy put themselves in an ideal position to achieve consistent success in the market. Over time, traders can feel the energy a market gives off and can execute trades from this. It is an invaluable tool in one's trading arsenal.

3. Vision
While total clairvoyance as to future price movement is unrealistic. It is my goal as a trader to assimilate as much information as possible with the goal of playing out scenarios that tie in together. It's not always easy to do, yet understanding trading does not occur in a vacuum and markets do exhibit funny things gets you mentally prepared to deal with these outlier events. Those that can think for themselves and need not rely on templatized news releases for their ideas usually put themselves in a position to benefit from their forward thinking. We have heard many times about leaders who saw an industry trend before it happened. This was no accident. It came as a result of their understanding of their field and what could change it for the better. Traders who gain an understanding of how things can potentially play out and factor that into their trading strategy go a long way to keeping their objectivity when things unfold in a fast and volatile market.

4. Discipline
Nine years in the Marine Corps helped develop this quality, yet its resolve is constantly put to the test. As the Chief Investment Strategist for NetBlack Capital, a Commodity Trading Advisor, I manage money for high net worth investors and institutional clients. I am regularly balancing the pressure of having to produce returns with that of taking on viable market opportunities. This is part of the job and one I take on with great alacrity. However, discipline is more than just taking on a trade when you are supposed to, it's doing your research at the prescribed times, making your Fibonacci grids the night before trading, working out regularly, eating right, keeping a trading journal, and doing the exercises of your life coach. To not have discipline in your life, makes it very difficult to have discipline as a trader. In many ways, our trading is a proxy or microcosm for how we live.

5. Decisiveness
This is a great leadership trait as well as a great attribute for a trader. So many times our success comes down to how we responded during the moment of truth. Having the resolve and confidence to act on our analysis or system is imperative to achieving the most meaningful long term results. In many cases, by the time we feel comfortable; the chance has materially altered from the initial entry and puts us at risk for greater volatility.

There are many things one can do to help themselves become a more decisive trader. One of the most luminous is to put oneself in an environment of traders that act in a decisive manner and regularly experience success. Our live hedge fund trading workshops in New York let attendees trade alongside and network with some prominent money managers and traders. This gives attendees a chance to alter their "trading disposition" and become more decisive, confident traders understanding this is a game of numbers and if you're not losing money at times, you are not taking on the kind of risk necessary to be successful. In many cases, this opens the proverbial floodgates for those looking to get to the next level of trading success.

6. Patience
The market, as much as anything in life, has a way of transforming us from cool, calm, collected individuals into irrational, impulsive, and disoriented speculators. Clearly it's in our interests towards long term profitability to spend the majority of our time in the former group rather than the latter. Acknowledging when things aren't going our way is the first step to becoming a more patient trader, but it's having the patience to wait things out until we find a more harmonic rhythm that contributes immeasurably to one's success.

As traders, it's the losing positions that invariably do us in. A number of the bigger losers many traders experience came as a result of not being patient and waiting on the right opportunity. Many of us tend to press when things aren't working out or we just had a losing trade. Traders can begin to play catch-up and go on emotional tilt. It's the paradox of trading in many ways. The same competitive drive we use to drive our success has components that hasten our failure.

When going through my daily checklist I put out to members of my mentorship program, I always emphasize the markets provide a multitude of chances to trade. One need not force action when the setups aren't right. Traders who get into positions with "the best of it", or edge, significantly increase their chances for success in the long run.

7. Confidence
This comes from a number of areas and is developed through successful implementation of a strategy. It is also a by-product of the unwavering belief in what you are doing will be successful. This is critical when you are in a position and at the moment of truth self doubt has a way of creeping in. It's tempting to deviate from your plan during these occurrences. While I'm not suggesting you not be flexible in your position management, having the belief in what you are doing goes a long way in your success. In fact, it's the confidence in your trading skill set that can give you the ability to make a decision to get out of a position knowing that things aren't working out. This conviction is a hallmark of great leaders and inspires others.

8. Focus
The array of information that hits us at breakneck speed can at times challenge us. Having a game plan to lock in on and isolate the markets, strategies, and goals outlined in advance helps us stay on the path to success. In trading as in life, stuff happens that is unexpected and can help us deviate. A series of losing trades or health issues we weren't expecting. Having the focus to keep things in perspective and understand what your goals are contributes immensely to keeping one's focus. A common thing I work on with my life coach is making a list of goals and what I plan to do to achieve these goals. My success coach, Nazy Massoud holds me accountable and keeps me focused at times when life or the markets would rather have it another way.

9. Being Dynamic/Fluid/Flexible
The markets are not a static entity, nor should the people who trade them be. While in no way does this attribute undermine one following a game plan in trading, being open minded to new ideas and innovations keeps you ahead of the curve. The markets today are seeing new technology, exchanges, overnight rules, and legislation that can impact price movement and your ability to conduct your business in a more structurally efficient manner. An example of this is Alchemy Ventures, a structured finance firm out of New York and San Francisco; they have created an investment structure that significantly reduces the inefficiencies of the investment allocation, risk management, and the reporting process to the end investor. With this type of financial engineering available in the markets, staying attuned to innovative ways to generate returns are just a few of the ideas that will benefit one considerably.

10. Willingness to Learn and Improve
This is a highly competitive game and educating oneself is essential to understanding the evolving components discussed in Attribute 9. With the extensive information availed to us, having colleagues or mentors to lean on is critical. I dedicate a certain amount of time each week to reading articles about things such as yield curve analysis, the money markets, structured finance, banking, legal issues, politics, and other relevant industry news. I also lean on certain market experts in aggregating my information for making my trading decisions.

--John Netto (Author of One Shot-One Killing Trading)

1. The Law of Abundance: We live in an abundant universe in which there is sufficient money for all who really want it and are willing obey the laws governing its acquisition.

2. The Law of Exchange: Money is the medium through which people exchange their labor in the production of goods and services for the goods and services of others.

3. The Law of Capital: Your most valuable asset, in terms of cash flow, is your physical and mental capital, your earning ability.

4. The Law of Time Perspective: The most successful people in any society are those who take the longest time period into consideration when making their day-to-day decisions.

5. The Law of Saving: Financial freedom comes to the person who saves ten percent or more of his income throughout his lifetime.

6. The Law of Conservation: It’s not how much you make, but how much you keep, that determines your financial future,

7. Parkinson's Law: Expenses always rise to meet income.

8. The Law of Three: There are three legs to the stool of financial freedom: savings, insurance and investment.

9. The Law of Investing: Investigate before you invest.

10. The Law of Compound Interest: You become financially independent by investing your money carefully and allowing it to grow at compound interest.

11. The Law of Accumulation: Every great financial achievement is an accumulation of hundreds of small efforts and sacrifices that no one ever sees or appreciates.

12. The Law of Attraction: The more money you save and accumulate, the more money you attract into your life.

13. The Law of Accelerating Acceleration: The faster you move toward financial freedom, the faster it moves toward you.

--Brian Tracy

In order to appreciate its importance in an investment scenario, you simply divide 72 by the rate of return you expect on your investment. For instance, if you expect to get an average 8 per cent return on your £10,000 investment, your money will double in 72/8 = 9 years; so the £10,000 investment will take 9 years to double. So, the higher the interest rate the shorter the time the initial investment will take to double and this explains why it is vital to shop around for a higher interest rate on any investment.

The Rule of 72 is useful in financial estimates and understanding the nature of compound interest. Below are some examples of how it works in everyday scenarios:-

* Given the low interest rates (2%) around at the moment, your money will take 72/2 or 36 years to double.

* However, to double your money in 10 years, you require an interest rate of 7.2% (72/10).

* For countries with GDP that grows at 3% a year, the economy doubles in 24 years (72/3). Also, if economic growth slips to 2%, the economy doubles in 36 years. If growth increases to 4%, the economy doubles in 18 years.

On the other hand, the rule of 72 works for expenses like inflation. If inflation rates go from 2% to 3%, your money will lose half its value in 24 years. Equally, as you are likely to have credit cards, then the rule of 72 can help determine when the amount you owe will double. For example, if you pay 15% interest on your credit cards, the amount you owe will double in only 4.8 years! This is why credit card debt can spiral out of control when the rule of 72 works against us.

The correct answer is option (b). This might come as a surprise to some because the option to receive £1,000,000 in 30 days sounds like a good deal. However, when one takes into consideration the power of compounding, then the option (b)- 1 pence now that doubles every second for the next 30 days works out to around 1 billion pounds as opposed to the 1 million pounds!

If you are to look at this scenario without taking the power of compounding into account, 1 day has 86,400 seconds and 30 days has 2,592,000 seconds. So, if the 1 pence doubles every second, then in 1 day, the one pence will have doubled to some big sum while within 30 days the 1 pence will have grown to an astronomical sum! For those with a strong mathematical background you should be able to work out the exact amount of option (b)!!

a) Opt to receive £1,000,000 in 30 days

OR

b) Opt to receive 1 pence now, which doubles every second for the next 30 days?

In otherwords, is it option a) or b) that is a better deal?

If you know the answer you can leave a comment here or post a tweet @rogerrecommends

You can follow me on Twitter

Well, the answer according to Warren Buffett (world's most respected investor) the present time is a good time to buy blue chip shares; the shares of some companies are at the lowest point in many years. This viewpoint of buying shares now might be at odds with some investors who opt to buy shares when the financial markets are thriving and prices overvalued. This thinking known as the herd mentality, is where people follow or are influenced by others to buy items, in this case shares. In other words, those with the herd mentality, are shying away from shares while savvy investors are seeing bargain shares. So, for those savvy investors with an eye for bargain share prices, this might be right time to invest in blue chip companies.

In particular, the Investor section is useful if you are looking for good returns in growing companies. This section also offers a chance for Business Angels to have hands-on or hands-off involvement in these companies. The Entrepreneur section is aimed at those individuals who are starting a business or require a business partner. As for the Mentor section, this offers an opportunity for experienced business people to help young start-up companies to grow and succeed. Alternatively, this section offers business people the chance to become Non-executive directors to young companies to add credibility to their business plans.

The company partners website is very easy to navigate and offers a lot of useful information about business plans and Tax saving guides. All in all, if you are interested in starting a business or looking for potential investors or business mentors, then this website can be a good starting point.