Here is a list of some of the best articles from my favorite personal finance websites. To kick start your week, spend some time digging through the Millionaire Money Habits archives and the links below to improve your financial literacy and increase your net worth.

Spotlight: Congrats to J.D. at Get Rich Slowly for being picked by Money Magazine as one of the top financial websites. I found his recent post, Making the Move from Spender to Saver inspirational, and a great step-by-step guide.

Your Life, Your Money:

• 2008 Best Paying Jobs for Graduates at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity
• Don’t Want To Work Forever? Retire On Time With These 10 Tips! at the Digerati Life
• Looking Back – Things I Wish I Had Known When I Was 18 at My Two Dollars
• Is it Smart to Buy Disability Insurance? at Generation X Finance

Investing Strategy:

• Do You Have an Investing Exit Strategy? at Mrs. Micah
• Practical Investing Guide For Beginners at Moolanomy

The Economy and Your Money:

• Dude, Where’s My Recession? at The Wisdom Journal
• What is a recession in the United States? at Gather Little by Little
• Your Money’s Guide to the 2008 Presidential Elections-Taxes at The Dough Roller
• How to turn an $1800 stimulus check into $1980 at Wise Bread

Personal Finance Carnivals:

• Carnival Of Personal Finance
• Carnival of Debt Reduction
• Kids and Money
• Carnival of Money Hacks
• Carnival of Making Real Money
• Carnival of Debt Management
• Carnival of Money, Growth and Happiness

Millionaire Money Habit: To build wealth, you need to perpetually improve your financial literacy. Digest as much information as possible and stick to a plan that works for you. In addition to the articles above, pick up one the recommended books found at the footer of this website, and be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed or by email to be notified of new articles.

Regardless if the U.S. is entering (or already has) a recession, there’s no question we’re facing some tough economic times. As a result, people are saving more, corporate profits are lower and the near-term future is bleak. This all translates to a declining, volatile stock market.

It’s more important than ever during these times to not follow the crowd if you have a long-term investment horizon. As people reduce or stop investing all together, you should be continuing to buy during a recession. This is the time that prudent investors build great wealth.

Sure, the short term may not be pretty, but stocks are cheap and the American economy will survive. Nobody can accurately predict a bottom of the market, and you want to be sure you are part of the rebound.

Since the bottom cannot be predicted, it is important to stick to your investment strategy. Remind yourself why you are investing in stocks. You know stocks are volatile, you know there is a potential to lose money, but you also know that by regularly investing in a diversified portfolio you will build great wealth over time. That’s because the stock market always prevails.

As William Bernstein, Financial theorist and author of “The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio,” states:

If you think about it logically, you are rewarded for owning stocks precisely because they are risky; the dicier things look, the more money you can expect to make in the long run.

Now more then ever you want to stick to your investment plan. If you are a long-term investor, keep investing regularly and stay diversified to protect your downside. You don’t want to look back years from now and realize you missed the opportunity of a lifetime.

Millionaire Money Habit: Hundreds of studies show that you can’t accurately time the market, but you can take advantage of a cheap market. Outsmart the average investor by taking advantage of the great buying opportunities that are created by fear and uncertainty in the market. -RT
photo by fyuryu

I was having lunch with a friend of mine the other day and naturally we got on the topic of personal finance and wealth. He was very proud to tell me, “I’m going to break six figures this year.”

“That’s fantastic,” I said. “How much more are you going to make next year?” He looked at me a bit puzzled, so I continued to explain one of my philosophies to building wealth.

A good business analyzes and prepares growth initiatives, increases income, reduces debts, and strives to outperform the previous year’s earnings and expectations. During your wealth-accumulating lifetime, you should treat yourself the same way. After all, the company you work for doesn’t want to make the same amount of money next year, so why should you?

Just as the company you work fights to the bitter end to earn more money year-over-year, you should ultimately be concerned with your bottom line, i.e. how much money is the “business of me” generating. This means while working to perform well in your current environment, you should always be thinking one step ahead and asking, “What’s next? What do I have to do next year to make more money?”

So, what are some ways you can make a few extra bucks? The first step is to right it down along with your list of goals. Make it a priority to sit down and think about how much you make and what you realistically want to make next year. For example, if you make $50,000, write down you want to make $60,000 next year. That’s a 20 percent increase, which can be a significant increase in salary, but is certainly a reasonable goal.

Once you have set your goal, map out a strategy on how you plan to get there. Here are some examples:

• I feel I am underpaid and will negotiate a raise in order to be paid what I am worth.
• I will pursue a promotion.
• I will start a part-time, home-based business doing “x” to generate extra income.
• I will increase sales by at least “x” percent this year.
• I will polish my resume, interviewing skills and network to land the job of a lifetime.

Consequently, by doing this exercise, and taking it seriously, you will be more successful in your career as the drive to succeed will be reflected in your work.

How much are you going to increase your income this year and how are you going to do it?

Millionaire Money Habit: One way to help you accumulate more wealth, more quickly is to increase your income and cash flow. Regularly stop and assess how you can increase your income in order to put more money work to for you, but remember to do some personal branding along the way. -RT