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Learn whether to invest in hedge funds, what returns are possible and a special $1 offer for the Be Wealthy & Smart VIP Experience! Just want to mention our sponsor, Jason Hartman of the Creating Wealth Podcast, and it's a MUST listen for anyone who is looking to create additional revenue streams. His show is full of smart stuff and if you like this show, you'll love his too. http://bit.ly/wealthpod. Here is our listener question: Hi Linda,   I hope you don't mind my sending you this e-mail about your podcast 090. I have listened to roughly 35 of your podcasts now and find them to be very informative. I especially liked 090 "why not to invest in 5-star rated mutual funds". It was a real eye opening segment that was constructed in a way that resonated with me.  The "if, then" references were right on point.  I am trying to build a personal knowledge database/decision matrix about investing and you are the starting point for me. My wife and I have 3 pensions/401K's between us as well as stock investments w

Learn the characteristics of a successful entrepreneur, why passion isn't enough and what you must do to thrive as an entrepreneur. Just want to mention our sponsor, Jason Hartman of the Creating Wealth Podcast, and it's a MUST listen for anyone who is looking to create additional revenue streams. His show is full of smart stuff and if you like this show, you'll love his too. http://bit.ly/wealthpod. Interview with Jason Myers, Co-founder and CEO of CXO Collective, part 2.

Learn the characteristics of a successful entrepreneur, why passion isn't enough and what you must do to thrive as an entrepreneur. Interview with Jason Myers, Co-founder and CEO of CXO Collective. Just want to mention our sponsor, Jason Hartman of the Creating Wealth Podcast, and it's a MUST listen for anyone who is looking to create additional revenue streams. His show is full of smart stuff and if you like this show, you'll love his too. http://bit.ly/wealthpod.        

Learn how much home equity Americans have, how many Americans own their home free and clear and if it impacts your wealth. Recently a friend told me she'd rather rent than buy a home. Is it still a good idea to own a home? Listen to Be Wealthy &Smart podcast #137: "Should I own a house or rent?" Ever wonder how much equity most people have? According to the Urban Institute, it's a little over $150k. Not only do you have to come up with a 20% downpayment (not always), but you're also paying into principal each month. The forced savings is powerful, even if the home doesn't appreciate. Americans over age 60 hold 52% of all home equity; under 50 hold 23%; and those under 40 owned 17%.  Of 73 million homeowners, 46 million have some debt on the home and 27 million have it paid off. Homeowners tend to have more wealth in areas where real estate has increased more. Makes sense, since it's most peoples' largest asset. Read podcast reviews.  

Women in households across the US manage $5 trillion! More than half of women with investible assets of $1 million think their financial advisor doesn't understand them, according to a 2014 study by the Center for Talent Innovation, a NY think tank. A study by National Bureau of Economic Research in 2011 found that FA's ask women fewer questions than men in the initial meeting and 40% are likely to tell women than men that they must first transfer their portfolio to the advisor's firm before receiving any advice. It goes along with what I've been told…that FA's don't speak to the woman, even if she's the breadwinner, they look at the man the whole time, don't ask her goals, etc. According to Wells Fargo, the median retirement balance in women's accounts is $500k vs. $700k for men. On average, women drop out of the workforce for 11 years to care for children. That amounts to $224k lost in lifetime earnings and SS benefits, according to AARP. Less than 25% of advisors are women, with no change in a decade. By 2

Learn why independent researcher Steve St. Angelo of SRSrocco report believes there is a coming shortage of silver. See charts at www.lindapjones.com/srsrocco

Learn why a 30 year mortgage can be better than a 15 year mortgage when investing in real estate. Here is our listener question this week: Hi Linda, You talk about using leverage to purchase rental properties as well as making an extra payment each year to pay down the mortgage quicker.  I have a rental property that currently has a 15 yr note at 4% and we are paying approximately $360 per month out of pocket to cover the mortgage (incl. taxes, insurance, and PMI).  We refinanced about 4 years ago into the 15yr in order to reduce our interest rate and pay down the principle faster since we were underwater at the time.  Now we are back in the black and were considering refinancing into a 30yr mortgage (which would also be at 4%) in order to increase our cash flow and invest the savings each month either in the market or save it toward a down payment on another property.  Our payment would go from $1260 to $760.  I wanted to hear your thoughts on this plan.  We currently receive $900 per month in rent, which is

Learn what asset is near the top of its cycle and which asset is near the bottom of its cycle. What asset is in a bubble? Bonds - IOU's that pay the investor interest. Interest rates move in 30 year cycles. Near the low in interest rates. It's a process. In Europe, some countries have negative interest rates (NIRP - Negative Interest Rate Policy). Investors pay to own sovereign bonds. Fear of losing money or default and want a guarantee. What asset is near the bottom? Silver. You can see cycles in the chart. Go to my website to see it: www.lindapjones.com/silver Chart shows cycles and the MACD. Shows the moving averages or calculations that show the trends and help you see the direction of movement and when it is turning into the opposite direction. Also can see it is peaking here, short term. Waves of energy flow through everything, even investments. You can see the cycles of the energy waves in this financial chart of the price of silver, which is our #1 holding and the #1 performing investment year-to-date

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 tryi

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

Learn reasons Americans don't retire when they want to, how many retire unexpectedly, and how confident they are or aren't about affording a comfortable retirement. About 45% of Americans are retiring earlier than they expected and also 45% are retiring about when they planned. 5% are retiring later than expected. Why people retire earlier than planned: 1. Hardship 60% 2. Able to afford it 35% 3. People desire to do something else 25% 4. Company changed, downsized or closed 5. Other work related reasons 6. Care for a family member 7. Change in required skills

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 wh

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

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 Gibral

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.

Learn what smart moves LeBron has made that are very different from other successful pro athletes, high-paid actors and lottery winners. Congratulations to the Cleveland Cavaliers for winning the 2016 NBA Championship! I've been reading about LeBron James and what a smart businessman he is. I have to agree. 1. He knows a good deal when he sees one. LeBron signed a contract right out of high school. Under the NBA's collective bargaining agreement, he signed a 3-year deal worth a maximum $12.96 million. 2. He keeps his options open. "Next year, LeBron is expected to have the highest salary in the NBA for the first time in his 13-year career. He knew this in 2014, which is why he became the first megastar player to take a one-year contract (with a one-year player option) in the midst of his prime, and why he did the same this past summer, positioning himself to cash in on the upcoming salary-cap spike." 3. He takes equity positions. When a headphones company called Beats came to him in 2008 looking for marketing

Today is Listener Question Day! Brian asks: Dear Linda: Thank you for podcast #125, which brought me back as I began to drift into investing outer space. I want to know how earnings forecasts are made; what are they based on? Are earnings forecasts the same as earnings predictions? Are they based on past earnings? Because I didn't think we used a company's historical data when looking at current market trends. Thanks, Brian  Thank you for the questions, Brian. Earnings forecasts are a compilation of information that is obtained by stock analysts at brokerage firms from a company's management and their own estimates. As you know from my podcast "What makes stocks go up?", earnings are what matters! Analysts are called "sell-side" analysts because they are "selling" their research to large pension funds, portfolio managers, and other institutional managers. Their job is to estimate what a company's quarterly and annual earnings will be. Since earnings are reported quarterly, 4 times a year the actual numbers ar