The Equivalent Millionaire

This is a help book. The idea behind this is to help people figure out their own net worth. Once you see your net worth, you start to plan your financial future.

Over and over again, you have heard that Americans are not planning for the future. Unfortunately, this is true. But how do I save? How do I know how much am I growing? And finally, is it enough for retirement? Lots of questions, not enough answers.

Every day, we are bombarded with advertisements saying “invest with us.” Many of these stockbrokers do a good job in helping their clients. They will even graph out your investments for you. How much of your money is in fixed interest? How much is in aggressive stocks? They can help you pick the percentages of investment you need, based upon your age.

The bottom line is that you need to have a personal balance sheet of your own. So you can make your own decisions about investing. This book will detail for you how the personal balance sheet is put together.

Of course, the whole idea of having a balance sheet is because we are all working towards retirement. Therefore, I have included an estimated retirement plan in the book as well. No matter what your age, you need to know your retirement situation. In fact, the younger you are, the better. Those twenty to fifty years old have time on their side. For those older than fifty, you need to be aware of catch-up plans that are available.

What are your sources of income for retirement? This book will deal with the legs of the retirement stool. The more legs or sources of income, the better off you will be. Each of us needs to be aware of our sources of income. If you are not yet retired, make a big effort to increase those monetary sources.

As you go through this book, ask this of yourself constantly: “How does this affect me?”