“Just Push A Few Buttons and the Money Will Start Rolling In!”
“With Just A Few Clicks of the Keys Your Bank Account Will Explode With Cash!”
“Simple and Easy Tricks to Getting Wealthy!”
“The Magic Button For Wealth Is Here!”
Those four sentences above are all headlines you’ve probably seen before. One of them I’ve personally used for LeagueofPower.com.
The trouble, I find, is that people have become desensitized to these words and they no longer believe there is such a thing as earning quick, easy money. Most of the people I talk to think they have to have extensive knowledge, be super smart, work really hard, and be in the right place at the right time to get rich.
This is simply not true. There absolutely is a path to real wealth, and it isn’t hard to follow.
Barring winning the lottery and inheriting money, there are 3 paths to getting rich. Well actually there are more than three, but the other ways are illegal and will get you put in jail so I’ve decided not to talk about them in this letter.
1. Owning Property
2. Buying Stocks
3. Starting A Business
All three of these methods are how every millionaire and billionaire across the globe has acquired their wealth (with the exception of the few who won the lottery or inherited their wealth).
If all three paths to riches get you to the same place, does it matter which one you choose?
Good question. Let’s take a closer look at all three methods.
First let’s talk about buying property as a means to getting rich. It’s how many of America’s financial elite have built their vast fortunes.
It’s also one of the oldest wealth building methods of all time. As far back as time can go humans have been laying claim to land and charging others to use it. In the middle ages, monarchies developed their vast fortunes by charging commoners taxes to live and work the land.
Over time the royal families came to allow commoners to own pieces of their land and develop it. They charged the commoners to buy it and if they couldn’t pay the full price up front they would lease it out until they had paid off the debt. This allowed the royal families to continually add to their fortunes and acquire more and more wealth.
It’s because of this wealth building process we call property real estate. The words real estate come from the Spanish word “real,” which means “royal.” Meaning, the literal translation of the phrase “real estate” is royal estate.
Today, although much has obviously changed, monarchies still use property as a way of generating much of their wealth and income as do the rest of us “commoners.”
The drawback of this method is that you have to select the right property, in the right area, and develop it wisely. You can’t do just one of those things; you’ve got to do all three of them. If you buy an overpriced property, you’ll be underwater on your investment. If you buy a property in a bad area, you won’t see any appreciation. If you don’t improve your property in some way, you might not see any gains; in fact you could lose money.
This type of wealth acquisition is also vulnerable to market busts. We all know how viciously real estate can erode wealth, we saw it happen in the 2008 real estate bust. Many homeowners lost over 50 % of their home’s value. Even now, seven years later, prices have not fully recovered. All it takes is one bad property market for your wealth to go up in smoke.
And while owning property has the potential to be very lucrative, you need to own a lot of properties to become rich. No one has ever become financially free from owning just one piece of property. Any real estate tycoon will tell you that you need to own dozens, if not hundreds of pieces of property to get really rich.
All of which requires a substantial amount of upfront cash. It’s very rare, especially now-a-days, to invest in real estate without putting some money down on it. This is a big barrier to overcome for new investors. You need to already have a substantial amount of money in the bank to be able to make more money.
The second tried and true method for acquiring wealth is building a portfolio of stocks and shares. Making steady investments in carefully chosen companies over a period of time and reinvesting the dividends can build you a large storage of wealth.
The good thing about owning stocks as opposed to property is that your money remains much more liquid. Investing in real estate ties up your money for long periods of time and is not conducive to pulling money out of it in any kind of timely manner. It can take a long time to sell a property in order to have cash again. Stocks and shares, on the other hand, can be sold relatively quickly, allowing you to move cash around to other investments as they come up.
Of course there are some drawbacks to using stocks and shares to become wealthy. Stock market crashes and corrections happen just as often, if not more often than real estate market crashes. And just like real estate market crashes, any money you lose will take years, if not decades, to fully recover.
Investing in stocks also has high fees and taxes, just like real estate. You have to pay every time you make a trade, making day trading a nearly impossible way to make real money. You also have to pay capital gains tax when you sell a stock, just as real estate owners have to pay realtors when they sell off a property.
In my opinion the worst thing about buying real estate and stocks as a method for getting rich is the time it takes to see a return on your money. In both cases it usually takes years, and more often than not, it takes decades to realize gains or make money off your investment.
That’s why out of those three paths to wealth I view owning your own business as the most viable. I’m sure you think I’m biased. But let me assure you I am not. I have tried out all three approaches. I own real estate and stocks as well as my business. It’s from my own personal experience that I know that the fastest path to wealth is owning a business. In fact, it’s the wealth I’ve earned from those businesses that have allowed me to participate in the other two.
I said before that to get into real estate or build a portfolio you need to already have some money. You can’t be broke without a job and become wealthy via either of those two ways. Really these two wealth building methods are for people who already have money.
You can however have very little money and start an online business. You can build a website for free, take payment via PayPal for free, your advertising budget is significantly less than it would be if you used another marketing channel. You can start an online business no matter how much or how little money you want to invest. That’s not true with buying real estate and stocks.
Plus owning an online business is a lot cheaper to run than other types of businesses and owning real estate. With real estate there are maintenance costs you will incur. You might have to fix the A/C if it goes out or hire a plumber if the toilet overflows. What’s so great about running an online business is that the ongoing maintenance costs are really low. You don’t have to get an office. You can work out of a spare room in your home. You don’t have to pay employees to cover for you while you’re not at the shop. You don’t have to buy tons of inventory to keep in stock or any of the other high costs associated with running a business. In fact internet businesses have the lowest overhead of any kind of business.
Keeping your monthly costs super low protects you against market fluctuations. Real estate and stocks are particularly vulnerable to market booms and busts like I talked about earlier. Internet businesses aren’t as exposed to market fluctuations. One reason being is that your overhead costs are very low. If the market pulls back a bit and less people buy from you, you can sleep easily knowing your costs are so low you probably won’t feel the pinch as much.
Don’t forget the significant tax advantages business owners receive. Owning stocks doesn’t get you very many write offs with the IRS…that is unless you lose money. But business owners can write off a large amount of daily activities as business expenses and therefore deduct them from their taxes. You get to write off part of your mortgage and utility bills if you work from home. Other tax write offs include your cell phone, car, gas, dinners out, tickets to shows, hotel, rental cars, flights, and all travel expenses; can’t do that owning real estate or a well-rounded stock portfolio.
Perhaps the best argument for why owning an internet business is the quickest and easiest way to get rich is the round the clock nature of its money making ability. After the initial set-up, you don’t have to be constantly working to make money. You can write and ad or send out an email, go on vacation and come back to a bank account exploding with cash. You make money day and night with an internet business. This allows you to make money quickly and with very little work.
As you can see those headlines I used at the introduction of this letter may sound crazy and full of hype, but it’s the truth. If you want to make easy money in as little time as possible you need to start an internet business.
To your future and mine!
Mark Patricks
