The Seven Keys to Financial Success 

By Fred Siegel

If you were offered a choice of a million dollars to spend in your business today or a book that taught you how to earn an extra million, which would you choose?

While the first option probably sounds tempting, by accepting the money you will likely take it for granted. You may end up wasting it on things you could probably do without, like new expensive office furniture or luxury company cars. The most successful business people know that every dollar you spend today is worth ten dollars in the future when invested properly. Therefore, the book that teaches you how to earn the money for yourself is a more worthwhile choice.

Knowledge has the power to earn you money. Obviously you and your business will be better off with the knowledge than with a quickly squandered million. Your respect and understanding for money will improve by earning the million dollars on your own. Plus, saving and investing now will reap greater rewards in the future.

To gain a better understanding of smart money management and investing to help secure the future of your business, consider the following seven keys to financial success:

Key #1: Save Ten Percent of Your Income: This Key is the foundation of all your financial dealings. Aside from the value invested in savings, putting ten percent does three other things for you. First it makes you more confident. You won’t have to worry about little money emergencies, and pride will grow from your control.

Second, having money allows you to take advantage of new business opportunities as they arise. Plus, your confidence will tend to attract more opportunities.

Third, by saving ten percent you create a cushion. This gives your business security immediately, and it provides some security in case of uncertainties in the future.

Key #2: Learn Before You Earn: If you have no knowledge of money and investing, you will likely fear both. To gain a basic understanding, go to the library and read some books on investing and money management. These texts will give you plenty to go on. Many classes, tapes, and people exist that can help you as well, so seek them out.

Key #3: Be a Positive Thinker: Anyone can find problems with any course of action. But negative thinking is not constructive for you or the type of successful people you want to be around. The doer focuses on the upside of situations, and if you never take action, you’ll never gain success – or the experience needed for success. Many times, the worst that can happen if you don’t succeed is a minor setback that you can learn from.

Obviously this doesn’t mean you can plunge ahead blindly. You prepare yourself first by obtaining the best advice possible. And you anticipate the problems. But then you must commit yourself to gain the benefits. Too many people let their negative thoughts scare them away from areas they can succeed in. They never get started.

Key #4: Invest in Areas You’re Passionate About: Nothing supports success like passion. If you love what you do, your passion will carry you past the rough spots. Very few of us can make success of something we don’t care about. For example, if someone offered to pay your tuition to medical school, would you be willing to put forth all the effort required to succeed at it? Unless you’re passionate about becoming a doctor, then probably not. Likewise, panhandlers can make over forty dollars an hour, which is far higher than average. But if you’re not passionate about it, then you probably won’t want to do it.

In reality, you could do hundreds of things to make money in your business. But success will be even more rewarding when you’re passionate about what you’re doing. So invest your time and money in something you really care about.

Key #5: If It Seems Too Good to be True, It Probably Is: Sometimes people invest wildly because they are unrealistic, and other times scam artists and crooks are just after their money. Realize that you’ll usually lose money if you invest in long shots, or if you expect to receive very high returns. For example, playing commodities markets is a high risk endeavor. Unlike the stock market, in commodities someone loses every time someone wins. And if you invest in this “game,” you will be playing against the producers and users of the commodities who have more information than you’ll ever have. Day-trading is another gamble. So no matter how safe an investment opportunity or business venture sounds, if it seems too good to be true then you’re probably better off turning it down.

Key #6: To Make Progress, You Have to Get Started: Many people have good ideas or intentions, but few take action. Don’t be afraid to commit yourself. Even if your start means just reading in the library, you must take action to get results.

Action makes things happen for you. The more action you take, the more you’ll learn to take smarter actions next time. You will often learn more from your own mistakes than from your successes. This is how you gain experience.

Key #7: Build Your Own Habits: Once you’ve found actions that work, turn them into habits. By creating a habit, routine actions become easier and you are freed up for more creative activities. Habits also make it easier for you to continue to take action even when you don’t feel like it or if you hit some other barrier.

Financial Success for Your Future: Knowledge has the power to earn money, therefore understanding the keys to financial success can pay off with great rewards. When you save ten percent of your business income, you build your financial security. By taking the time to learn the way money works, you’ll be less likely to make costly mistakes. And positive thinking will give you confidence to take intelligent risks.

A passion for what you do will make your success more rewarding. But keep in mind that any business opportunity that sounds too good to be true, most likely is an unsafe venture. Then understand that to make progress, you must take action. Finally, building good money habits will make your routine activities easier and free up more time for creative endeavors.

When you learn and use these seven keys to financial success, you’ll build the stability of your business and grow you earning potential as a result.

Fred Siegel is the author of the best-selling book, "Investing for Cowards" and of the upcoming book, "401k's For Cowards." He is the president of The Siegel Group, Inc. a Registered Investment Advisory firm with $1.2 billion under management.  Fred is the host of the financial advice radio show, "Talking Money."  He has been on the air continuously since 1984. He is also a regular on ABC network as an expert on financial matters.  Contact Fred at 504-566-3900 or www.FredSiegel.com.