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The Complete Guide To Achieving Financial Freedom By Mark Anastasi ©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved. 1

The Complete Guide To Achieving Financial Freedom

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Page 1: The Complete Guide To Achieving Financial Freedom

The Complete Guide To Achieving Financial Freedom

By Mark Anastasi

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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Page 2: The Complete Guide To Achieving Financial Freedom

Table Of Contents Introduction 3

I- The Importance Of Educating Yourself About Wealth And Money 7

II- Our Educational System Has Failed Us 8

III- Break Free From The Cultural Hypnosis! 9

IV- Escape The Rat Race And Dare To Dream! 10

V- The Power Of Goal-Setting 11

VI- The Power Of Purpose 13

VII- Go Out And Meet People! 14

VIII- Want More Money? Create More Value! 15

IX- Beware Of The ‘Coalition Of Four’ And The Debt Trap 16

X- Entrepreneurship And Self-Made Millionaires vs. Being An Employee 18

- Online Marketing 18 - The Golden Rule For Entrepreneurial Success 19 - The Importance of Integrity 19 - Overcome The Fear of Failure And Rejection 20 - Passive Income vs. Earned Income 20 - The 21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires 21

XI- Financial Literacy 22

- The Magic Of Compound Interest 22 - Spend Less Than You Earn And Invest The Difference! 22 - Pay Yourself First! 22 - Accounting And Cash Flow Patterns 23 - The Cash Flow Of An Asset 23

XII- Developing An “Abundance Consciousness” 26

XIII- Modelling Rich People’s Thinking 27

XIV- Visualizations & Mental Rehearsals 29

XV- Overcoming Financial Challenges Quickly & Effectively 30

XVI- Investing In The Stockmarket 31

XVII- Investing In Real Estate 37

XVIII- Destroying Your Limiting Beliefs About Money 41

XIX- The Bigger Picture 44

XX- Taking Action Is The Key To Financial Freedom 50

XXI- Assignments 51

XX- Final Thoughts 52

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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INTRODUCTION Dear reader, I wish to acknowledge you for being one of those rare souls that have not bought into the general population’s cultural hypnosis that says, “Give up on your dreams, conform, and just accept your lot!” By reading this e-book you are making a clear statement that “YES, THERE IS MORE TO LIFE, AND DARN IT I’M GOING TO FIND OUT HOW I CAN GET IT!” Also, I appreciate how valuable your time is – so many demands are made of us in today’s world – and I feel privileged that you have chosen to spend a little bit of time in my company. I do not wish to overwhelm you with theories, philosophies, and information. My intention is other. All that matters to me is your RESULTS. Consequently, I have kept this e-book concise and to the point. Have you ever come across an AMAZING idea that could really have massively improved the quality of you life… and then failed to act upon it? I have been guilty of that, for sure. I have read hundreds of personal development books – including dozens on wealth and financial freedom – and spent a fortune in personal development seminars… but it took me more than 2 years before I put any of it in practice. This e-book includes a few very simple exercises that you MUST complete. They are quick and they are fun, they only require a pen and some paper, and they are GUARANTEED to skyrocket your earnings beyond anything you could possibly imagine. As with so many things in life, THE KEY IS TAKING ACTION! I have used the psychological tools and techniques contained herein myself to better utilize my mind powers, and in the space of just 6 months I went from earning just $1,700 a month and being heavily in debt to earning $10,000 a month, then over $40,000 in a weekend, to probably in excess of $12,000,000 next year.

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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Background I’d like to briefly share with you my life’s journey, especially regarding my relationship to money… Until 6 months ago, I had NEVER earned more than $1,700 a month. I grew up in Greece, where my father worked 16-hour days as a journalist. Although we had a relatively comfortable lifestyle, and never really lacked anything, money was a constant struggle. The weekly shopping bill was always reason enough for bitter arguments between my parents. “Why did you spend this much on this? Why did you spend this much on that?” I remember hiding down in our 20-year-old eastern-European Dacia car, as my mother would drive my sisters and me to school, where all my friends would arrive in their parents’ huge shiny BMWs, Jeeps, etc. They would go to unbelievably exotic places on holidays, whilst I was stuck at home. One especially tough Christmas, in the early 90s, after my father had lost a substantial part of his revenues from journalism, we couldn’t afford any presents for each other, so I went around our closets and the attic to find old things that I could mend and ‘repackage’ so that our Christmas tree would not appear too bare… In the late 90s my father’s business went bankrupt. Bailiffs and half a dozen removals guys, lawyer in tow, stormed into his small publishing office in downtown Athens and threatened to repossess everything. His employees and myself were left gob smacked. In the ensuing months our house was put up for auction, and we would regularly fend off investors swooping down on our property in search of a real-estate bargain. In my late teens I moved to England to study business, and as a student I was broke most of the time. Again, I could never afford what everyone else around me could, like, say, going out on a Saturday night. I was regularly threatened with eviction from both my accommodation AND my University. During a 6-month work placement in Paris, I couldn’t afford rent so I never slept more than a week in the same place – and by ‘place’ I mean some friend’s floor or couch. I worked as a security guard for 2 years, in Oxford, England, to pay for my studies.

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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Page 5: The Complete Guide To Achieving Financial Freedom

This meant getting up at 6, and cycling to some remote location in the freezing cold. Or, it meant some days working from 7 at night until 7 in the morning and then cycling to University for my lectures… and all this for $7 an hour. My first job, upon graduation, was in sales for a small training company. I expected to earn good money in commissions, but ended up making just 1 sale in the 14 months I was there. Unsurprisingly, I was fired in November 2003… and made absolutely NO money for the ensuing 3 months. I got thrown out of where I lived in January 2004, sold everything I had – including my beloved piano – and once again was living out of a suitcase, never spending more than 2-3 nights in the same place. I signed up for unemployment benefits, and got a grand total of $60 from the State… At the same time my mother, after her divorce, was being threatened with eviction from her new apartment… and I couldn’t help her. My sisters couldn’t afford their University tuition and were also threatened with the termination of their studies… and I couldn’t help them. My girlfriend – who was studying in Germany at the time, and experiencing a host of health challenges – was begging me to come see her… but I couldn’t afford the ticket. Heck, by that stage I could barely afford food. I had no money, I was in debt up to my eyeballs, and I was sharing a tiny, disgusting, damp, stinking, window-less room with another person. I went for a run… It was a week before my 25th birthday, and the rain was pouring down heavily. I was running through a cemetery on Old Brompton road, in West London. I was soaking wet. As I ran amongst the tombstones, crying, I broke down and just shouted... “Enough!” As I kneeled down on the path, I started reading the epitaphs on the stones around me, and imagined what mine would read, a hundred years from now. I didn’t want it to read “Well, kinda was ok, never hurt anyone, never bothered anyone”… I made a DECISION. I decided there and then that I WOULD NEVER LET MONEY CONTROL MY LIFE AGAIN. Within 2 months I became financially free.

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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Why This Is Important A have a couple of questions for you. Do you want to make more money? Do you want to become rich, wealthy, abundant, prosperous? A millionaire?

Do you want to achieve the absolute financial freedom to do whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want,

with whomever you want, forever? If so, there are things you need to LEARN, ways you need to THINK, ways you need to BE, and finally… things you need to DO. Finances are only one of the parts of life – but it is a very important one. Wealth will give you choices, it will allow you the freedom to do what matters most in life, contribute more to your community and society, and take better care of your loved ones, as well as enjoy yourself and squeeze every last drop out of LIFE you can! In this day and age, you MUST become financially independent – there is no such thing as “job security” anymore. Furthermore, a monumental pensions crisis could be looming just around the corner. 95% of Americans over the age of 65 are either dead broke …or dead! In 2001, 12.3 million people in the UK – out of a population of 60 million – were living on incomes below the poverty level. For most people, money runs their entire lives. Don’t let that happen to you. Please do not let money run your life. It is such a waste of your time on this planet! My outcomes here are to give back to people their freedom, their self-respect, and their DREAMS. This book is about attaining financial independence, personal independence, true freedom! And even more importantly, creating a life of joy, passion, contribution, true meaning, and purpose.

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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I- THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATING YOURSELF ABOUT WEALTH

I encourage you to study wealth, to understand how money works, in order to have it work for you! It makes no sense to me whatsoever that we are not taught this at school. A financial education is incredibly powerful – you will gain power over money, instead of having it control YOU! If you don’t learn how money works, you WILL SPEND THE REST OF YOUR LIFE WORKING FOR MONEY! Financially successful people have educated themselves about accounting, taxes, investing in the stockmarket, investing in property, running a business, marketing, etc. To get out of the rat race you need to become proficient in these areas. Subjects like investing and accounting may appear boring, but are crucial for your financial success, and therefore your life. Most people never pick up a book or educate themselves from the moment they leave school! Personally, I go to as many personal development seminars and workshops as my schedule permits, and regularly listen to audio programs. The more good stuff (ideas) you put in, the more good stuff (results) will come out. Most people don’t have the time or inclination to learn new things. They are caught up in the rat race, in the illusion that they are actually getting somewhere. Besides, a lot of people are lazy: they want the rewards in life without the effort. Be open to having your point of view and your current mindset be challenged. Your beliefs so far have resulted in whatever situation you are in. If you are not rich already, you might want to consider the possibility that you will need to alter your beliefs and mindset when it comes to money. Finally, the ONE thing that stops most people from taking that 1st step into starting a business, investing, etc… is FEAR. You must replace fear with knowledge! I highly recommend that you check out the work of Anthony Robbins, Robert Kiyosaki, Randy Gage, Robert G. Allen, Warren Borsje, Bob Proctor, Brian Tracy, John Cummuta, and T. Harv Ecker.

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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II- OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM HAS FAILED US

Does school prepare children for the real world? I’ve mentioned already the value of continuous learning throughout our lives. Thanks to the prevalent teaching methods though, most people have negative associations to the idea of “learning”. Current educational systems teach you to be an employee, a worker drone in the collective. “Shut up! Do as you are told! Don’t take the initiative, wait for instructions. Don’t talk to your neighbour! Don’t make any mistakes, or you are wrong, wrong, wrong!” Growing up, I was taught and conditioned to go to school and get a good job for a large company. Telling our children to “Go to school, get good grades, and look for a safe, secure job” is some of the most dangerous advice we could give them. Most people who follow that pattern get into a position of dependency. We live in a system of dependence. We are conditioned to go to school and get a job, and the banks teach us to get into debt: home, car, credit cards… We are then locked into a lifetime commitment, locked into the system. Most people are trapped in the Rat Race for the rest of their lives! They work for their employers, for the government by paying taxes, and for the bank by paying off a mortgage and credit cards. We are not taught to think for ourselves, we are taught to depend on others. Most of us don’t have the time or resources to challenge this system, because we are locked into it! We get caught up! I am extremely concerned by the lack of financial education our children receive in school. They have never had a course on wealth, investing, accounting, taxes, business success, how compounding works, the perils of consumer debt, etc… In the US, most people have bet their entire retirement on the stockmarket – but our educational system has taught us NOTHING about being successful investors! Getting a good education and making good grades no longer ensures success. People are working harder and harder, only to pay more taxes and end up in debt. There is no “job security” anymore – you need financial security.

How many millions of people are out there in the real world struggling financially? The world has changed, but our educational system has not changed with it.

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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III- BREAK FREE FROM THE CULTURAL HYPNOSIS!

Most people work very hard, for little money, clinging to the illusion of job security, looking forward to a 3-week vacation each year and a skimpy pension after 45 years of work. If that excites you, go for it. This concept of “a job” is a load of nonsense. It never made any sense to me. “We’ll buy your life for $30-50-80K a year, and give you 3 weeks holiday…” I tell you, whoever sold us on that idea… Just stop & think about it for a moment. Does it make sense to YOU? Why do you have a job? Most people never see the trap they are in. I often wondered why grown-ups hurried off to work. It never seemed like much fun and they never looked that happy, yet something kept them hurrying off… Do they look happy to you? No? So why do they do it? Answer no1: because everybody else around them is (cultural hypnosis). Answer no2: because they are afraid. It is fear that keeps most people working at a job. The fear of not paying their bills, the fear of being fired, the fear of not having enough money. The fear of starting over. The fear of ‘what will people say?’ Passion and love are not the motivating force in everything they do. FEAR is. It’s easier to work for money, being told exactly what to do, rather than think for yourself and take risks by becoming more entrepreneurial. This simply IS NOT a way to live your life. It is a complete waste of your precious time on this planet. To spend your life living in fear, never exploring your dreams, is cruel. To wake up in the middle of the night in cold sweats because of bills you have to pay is a horrible way to live. To live a life dictated by the size of a paycheck is not really a life. That’s the price of working in a job. Every day employees wake up with this fear gnawing at their soul. They rush off to work, hoping that a paycheck will kill the fear.

Most people become a slave to money… Money is running their lives, but they refuse to acknowledge this horrible truth. I’ve met so many people who say, “Oh I’m not really interested in money…”. Yet they’ll work at a job for 8 hours a day… for money.

Thinking that a job will make you feel secure is simply lying to yourself. A job is only a short-term solution to a long-term ‘problem’.

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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IV- ESCAPE THE RAT RACE and DARE TO DREAM!

Most people are trapped in the rat race. They are living paycheck to paycheck. How does it feel to have to ask (beg? deceive?) for a job? How does it feel to play ‘office politics’? And how does it feel when you receive your paycheck at the end of the month? It seems like nothing. You are disappointed every time. People all over the world get up every morning, take a quick shower, and rush off to a job most of them actually hate. So they get there on Monday and they say to themselves: “If I can just get through the day!” They get home, zone out in front of the idiot box, crawl into bed, pass out…. then Tuesday morning “DRRRRRRING” …. Same story. Finally, Friday – if they can just get through the day… their boss is going to give them their paycheck! But that paycheck is already gone… to pay off credit cards and banks! But for that brief moment they can pretend that cheque is theirs… It’s time to celebrate! They get a stack of videos, so that they can pass out in front of the TV so as to not think about their lives of quiet desperation. Monday morning, 6.30… “DRRRRRRING”…… it starts all over again. Day after day, week after week, months, years turn into lifetimes of joyless existence. Kids still have dreams, though – when they grow up they’ll drive a Ferrari, be an NBA star, etc! When they get out of school, do they go into their dream job? No – any job that pays the bills. “We’ll get our dream job later”. So the dream gets pushed back a little. Then they get another job that pays a little better. Pretty soon there’s a couple of mouths to feed. If they can afford it they buy a house – not their dream house, though.

Because they’ve given up on their dreams. Somewhere along the way – aged 30, 35, 40 – they give up on their dreams. They just kind of die. ”Ehh, that’s just the way things are…” WAKE UP! YOU’RE PLUGGED INTO THE ‘MATRIX’! GET OUT OF THE RAT RACE! Stop listening to your deadbeat victim friends, stop listening to the media, the TV, the newspapers that condition you to live out this predictable existence!

Remember how you were as a child, remember the DREAMS you had!

If you take control, you can still bring them back to life! No one at the end of their lives wishes they had spent more time at the office!

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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V- THE POWER OF GOAL-SETTING

The main reason people don’t get what they want, is because they don’t KNOW what they want! CLARITY IS POWER! If you want to be rich, or achieve success in any area, you need to be very clear on EXACTLY what it is that you want. Your brain is a supercomputer that will bring you whatever you ask. A command like “I want to be rich” is too vague. Try instead “I want to earn $10,000 a month by June 200X and enjoy the process.” Or, “I want to accumulate $1 million in assets, by 200X”; ”I want to earn $3000 a month in passive income and be COMPLETELY debt-free by X.” Goals work because thoughts are things. Everything you see around you was first created in someone’s imagination. Whatever we imagine and focus on we move towards, and then create and manifest. Also, you are acknowledging to both your conscious & subconscious mind that where you are right now is not where you want to be. Part of what motivates human action is a sense of dissatisfaction. Without a certain amount of pressure, there is no motivation. Dissatisfaction can be a tool to achieve your goals. Why are goals so important? Because with goals we create and shape our lives, and ultimately our destiny. Create something compelling enough to move you forward! A compelling goal can make you jump out of bed every day with amazing drive and energy! The power of goals is simply miraculous. It’s phenomenal and awesome. This was never better demonstrated than in the 1953 experiment conducted at Yale. It was established that upon graduating, only 3% of the students had written goals. Twenty years later it transpired that the 3% of students with clearly defined goals were happier, more well-adjusted… and worth more than the other 97% put together! The other 97% of students failed to realise their full potential by being unclear on their goals.

The power of writing down your goals is simply extraordinary. Quite simply, THEY WORK. If you write down your goals on a piece of paper, then carry them around with you or stick your goals all around your house, car, and office so that you see them frequently, YOUR SUCCESS IS PRACTICALLY ASSURED.

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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Know what you want. Know your outcome. Clarity is POWER! Your brain is constantly screening out and deleting 99.9% of everything you perceive. You would go crazy with ‘information overload’ if it didn’t! Your Reticular Activating System (RAS) will bring to your attention that 0.01% that your brain feels is important. The way you can get your RAS to work for you in an empowering way… is by setting GOALS. When you write down a goal, you are in fact sending a clear order to your brain (and your RAS) that THIS IS IMPORTANT, THIS IS WHAT I WANT, NOW GET IT FOR ME! YOU ARE NOW DICTATING YOUR TERMS ON LIFE – IT’S YOU THAT DETERMINES HOW THINGS ARE GOING TO BE. YOU ARE IN CONTROL. You’ll then need to review your goals daily. Stick them in your diary, on your fridge, in your car, on your computer, next to your bed, laminate it and stick it in the shower! Remember: Whatever you focus on consistently you will get or become! OK, now grab a pen and some paper, and start answering the questions below.

• If you had 100 million dollars in the bank and absolutely no limitations whatsoever, what would you be doing right now? Imagine that you were granted 1 wish – what would you dare to dream, if you knew you could not fail?

• What kind of work would you truly enjoy and be passionate about? Are you currently

doing the type of work you love to do? If not, what has stopped you so far from pursuing it? Do you plan to continue allowing that to stop you? If not, what could you do to change that?

• If you had no limitations, where would you want to travel? What would you want to

experience?

• What do you want to achieve financially? Do you want to earn $1 million? $100 million? Do you want to earn $10,000 a month? Do you want to eliminate all your debts? Do you have investment goals or savings targets for the next year, 5 years, 10 years, etc?

• What would you like buy? What toys, gadgets, or general items you’ve always wanted?

• What would you like to contribute to the world?

• What would you like to create?

• What would your dream house look like? What would be in it?

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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VI- THE POWER OF PURPOSE Here’s the key to achieving your goal and becoming rich or achieving financial freedom: KNOW WHY YOU WANT THESE GOALS! PURPOSE IS STRONGER THAN OUTCOME! More important than the HOW we achieve financial freedom, is the WHY. Find YOUR reasons why you want to be free and wealthy. If you give yourself a compelling reason to achieve your goals, you’ll succeed. Period. By the way, if you have a desire for something, that means YOU ALREADY HAVE THE ABILITY WITHIN YOU to achieve your desires. OK, now grab a pen and some paper, and start LISTING ALL YOUR REASONS WHY YOU MUST HAVE MORE MONEY. List 100 of them! NOTHING IS MORE POWERFUL IN CREATING WEALTH IN YOUR LIFE THAN THIS SIMPLE EXERCISE! USE THE TWIN POWERS OF PAIN & PLEASURE! All human beings are driven by 2 main forces:

- The need to avoid pain… - …and the desire to gain pleasure.

In order to make something a MUST, we need to get leverage on ourselves. Leverage comes when we associate IMMEDIATE AND INTENSE PAIN with not doing something, and we also associate IMMEDIATE AND IMMENSE PLEASURE with doing it.

• The financial pain exercise: write down all of the pain you experience in your life from not being financially independent, and not having enough money. What pain has “not having money” caused you? Write down everything you have missed out on, been stressed about, or lost in your life because of ‘not having enough money’. What is it costing you right now? What will it cost you in your relationships, your health, your self-esteem, your joy and passion in life… over the next 20 years?

• Then, write down all of the things you will gain, all of the ways your life will be enhanced,

when you are absolutely financially secure, vital, independent, and free for the rest of your life. How will it affect your self-esteem, your relationships, the amount of free time you have, what you give to others, and amount of joy you experience? What would you be able to do if you were a millionaire? What’s all the pleasure you would get from having much more money?

If you do this simple exercise, listing 100 reasons, and then connect with that list on a daily basis, you won’t BELIEVE what will happen to your life. The reasons “Why” constitute 80% of what it takes to become rich. “How to” boils down to simple mechanics.

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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VII- GO OUT AND MEET PEOPLE! One of the important things in making money, is meeting people! Don’t be shy! Go out and meet people! Ask questions! Exchange ideas! Offer your services! Who you know can make the biggest difference in your financial life. Get out there and NETWORK! Poor people work, rich people NET-WORK! And guess what – where you can find loads of money at any time? In other people’s pockets! Find out what people want… and provide it to them! That’s the ‘magic formula’ for success in business! “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want”, says Zig Ziglar. Remember, you don’t “make” money, you earn money. There is no free ride in life. You become rich by enriching others; by providing services and products they need. The Importance Of Your Peer Group Furthermore, the single most important thing influencing who you become and your entire Destiny is who you spend time with! Who you spend time with… you will become. Look at the 6 people you spend most time with. That’s who you will become. You should perhaps stop hanging out with some of the people that are holding you back. Create a supportive environment for yourself and for the achievement of your goals – have a number of special people to exchange ideas with! To keep you focused! To keep challenging you to get better! ©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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VIII- WANT MORE MONEY? CREATE MORE VALUE!

Money is nothing but the measure of the value you create for other people!

The key strategy for earning more money is extremely simple and powerful. If you want more money, CREATE MORE VALUE! To figure out how to earn more money, figure out how to ADD MORE VALUE TO PEOPLE! You can earn 10 times more money in the same amount of time if you add 10 times as much value in the same amount of time. Develop this mantra – “HOW CAN I ADD MORE VALUE?”

“How can I help more people have a better quality of life?” Learn how to give much more to others than you expect to get back (by the way, that’s impossible – the more you give the more you’ll receive!). Do you want to earn more money TOMORROW? Add more value! Think big. Get a raise. Get a second job. Get your spouse to get a job. Start a business part-time. Buy a business with little or no money down. Become a business partner. Gain new skills, new knowledge, continuously throughout life, and increase your value to your employer and/or customers. There is no limit to how much you can learn, and therefore no limit on how much value you can create, and there is most definitely no limit to how much money you can earn.

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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IX- BEWARE OF THE ‘COALITION OF FOUR’ AND THE DEBT TRAP!

When you owe people…they OWN you.

Being in debt means being vulnerable, missing out on opportunities, being unable to invest sufficiently to build a secure retirement, being a SLAVE. Being in debt is damaging to your marriage, your levels of stress, your health, your children and the example they follow, and the proximity and quality of your retirement. Cut the waste! Eliminate anything that you’re currently paying for that no longer gives you enjoyment! Develop a spending plan! Be aware every day EXACTLY how much you’re spending and what on. For the next 30 days write down exactly what you spend your money on, then add it up in each of the categories: rent/housing; food & miscellaneous shopping; transport; education; going out & entertainment; etc. How much “profit” are you left with at the end of the month? The Media’s Impact on our Finances People are getting more and more into debt, buying things they don't need, egged on by what John Cummuta calls the Coalition of Four: Advertisers + Media + Credit Lenders + Merchants. The media present us with a constant stream of glamorous lifestyles, then advertisers make us feel insecure about what we have, and finally Credit Lenders present us with the lure of “free money”… The Advertising and the Media industries co-operate. They run the show. They’ve perfected this so much that they can sell us anything. They know exactly how to push all our buttons. No wonder the difference between what most people earn and what they spend minimal if anything at all. Eventually they get you to spend your entire income. Then come the credit lenders… “ooouuuh…poor baby… come over here, WE understand, WE’LL take care of you, don’t worry about a thing…here’s a 0% for 6 months credit card.” The Coalition is manipulating you. Driven by advertising and popular culture, you desire to buy a big house, a new car, fancy expensive clothes, every new convenience, toy, and fashion. You end up wasting money trying to LOOK rich… THE PROBLEM IS, YOU NEVER ACTUALLY BECOME RICH!

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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The fact is, as described in the book “The Millionaire Next Door”, most millionaires in the US have a modest house, drive a modest car, etc. and have simply spent less than they earn their entire lives and invested the difference. The Coalition has trained you to be a good “consumer”. By the way, to “consume” means to destroy. A consumer is nothing but a WEALTH DESTROYER. The Coalition uses your weaknesses against you. They play to your desire to fit in, giving in to peer pressure, “looking the part”, keeping up with the Joneses… Too many middle-class people try to “keep up with the Joneses”. The problem is… the Joneses are broke. They may have the big house, the nice car, the expensive holidays… but if you study their financial statements, you’ll find that they own nothing, they have no assets, and they are in debt. Instant gratification will kill your finances. Unplanned purchases can quickly get our expenses out of hand. Your best weapon against this temptation is DELAY. Write down what it is you want to purchase, then don’t act on it for a week.

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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X- ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SELF-MADE MILLIONAIRES vs. BEING AN EMPLOYEE

The spirit of the entrepreneur – that’s what the world is made for. We live in the age of the entrepreneur. There has never been a better time to become a self-made millionaire. Most people are too scared to be an entrepreneur, because it takes personal responsibility and the willingness to face your 2 primary fears:

• “I’m not good enough”… • and …“I won’t be loved”.

Don’t tell yourself the lie that “you can’t do it”. The truth is you can but you don’t because you’re afraid. Do you want to have your own business? The opportunities for you to do so are innumerable. You can buy a franchise. You can go to a ‘business broker’ and tell him what business you are interested in buying. You can buy a business with ‘no money down’ – basically offer to take over someone’s business and share the profits with them. You can sell things through classified ads. You can buy a database and run direct marketing campaigns selling various products to those people. ONLINE MARKETING With the advent of the Internet it has become easier, faster, and cheaper than ever before to run a successful business. Already over 100,000 people make a full-time living just from buying and selling things on eBay. The Internet is a billion-dollar infrastructure, available to you for FREE, 24 hours a day, allowing you to reach a global market of over 600 million people. Have you ever bought anything online? If you are reading these lines… chances are you have! My question to you is… HAVE YOU EVER SOLD ANYTHING ONLINE? IF NOT… WHY NOT???

You can exploit millions of niche markets by creating specific websites catering specifically to what they want. It needn’t cost you more than a few hundred dollars to get started, and BOOM – you’ve got access to hundreds of millions of potential customers.

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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THE GOLDEN RULE FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS What most entrepreneurs do is come up with as business idea, start it… and only THEN look to see if there’s a market for it! As simple as this may sound, it is a crucial distinction to make. Your business success is virtually assured if you discover a pain in the market, a true market need… and then simply cater to it. THE IMPORTANCE OF INTEGRITY One of the keys for sustained success in business is Integrity. This characteristic is highly valued in business circles. Sometimes it’s the toughest thing you’ll ever have to do… but it’s the foundation of a joyous life, self-expression, power… everything. ARE YOU ACTUALLY HONOURING YOUR WORD WITH YOUR LIFE? What would you do differently if Integrity were your highest value? Where in your life are you “out of integrity”? Resolve to get back into Integrity in all those areas within the next month. OVERCOMING THE FEAR OF FAILURE & REJECTION Most people are afraid of failing and being rejected. If you can get over these 2 things, life is easy! At school we are taught that losing and failing is bad. At school, if you make mistakes, you are a “failure”. People spend their entire lives fearing MISTAKES. And yet mistakes are how we learn. There is a priceless kernel of knowledge in every mistake. Admit it. Learn from it! Don’t deny or justify it. Successful people try and try again. They fail over and over again. Poor people are afraid of risk, rejection, afraid of losing money, losing face… But losing is part of the winning! Listen, if you take enough swings at the bat, eventually you are bound to hit something!

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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I promise you that if you have the fortitude to swing that bat again and again and again, if you have the strength to get back up every time you’re knocked down… YOUR SUCCESS IS ASSURED! Most people are afraid to even pick up the bat! Or if they do ‘pick up the bat’, and they don’t ‘hit anything’ at the first swing, they give up and decide to never try this kind of thing again! Furthermore, most people focus on debts, ‘not losing’, paying the bills… It is a Law of The Universe that… “What you focus on expands”. So guess what they manifest in their lives! Problems, worries, financial difficulties… Rich, successful entrepreneurs focus on opportunities and the potential rewards! They are constantly seeking opportunities to create value for more people, serve more people, help more people, find out what people want and then give it to them! By the way, people with a job pay the highest taxes. And jobs often trap you. You have little time with your kids, you are not free, there are limitations to what you can do, etc.

In my experience, people in corporations are… corpses! They are going through the motions, with no sense of purpose, passion, mission. They are dead inside.

No one who went for their dream, regardless of whether they succeeded

or not, regret it. But you meet a lot of people who say “Gosh, I wish I had done this, I wish I had had the courage to do that…”

PASSIVE INCOME vs. EARNED INCOME Employees work for earned income. Once they’ve worked for a month, they get paid for their work and their time that month… just once. To get more money, they need to go back to work.

Ask yourself, “How can I do it just once, for it to return money to me forever?” Your aim should be to create multiple streams of passive income! Dividends from shares, rent from investment properties, royalties, business systems that don’t require your presence… are all passive income.

Make money while you sleep! Take yourself out of the equation. Make money whether you work or not! That’s passive income.

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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THE 21 SUCCESS SECRETS OF SELF-MADE MILLIONAIRES Brian Tracy is a leading light in the field of personal development. His books and audio programs have sold in the millions, and he speaks to audiences all over the world (www.briantracy.com). He has sold over 1.5 million copies of the audio program “The 21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires”, and I highly recommend it. The content list reads as follows:

1. Dream Big Dreams – visualize, imagine and create an exciting picture of personal prosperity

2. Develop a Clear Sense of Direction – set your goals in writing

3. See Yourself As Self-Employed –take complete control of your career and your financial life

4. Do What You Love To Do – Identify the ideal work for you and then get paid well for it

5. Commit to Excellence – move into the top 10 percent in your field

6. Work Longer and Harder – organize your time better and contribute more value

7. Dedicate Yourself to Lifelong Learning – continually upgrade your talents and abilities

8. Pay Yourself First – (more on that below, page 23)

9. Learn Every Detail of the Business – become an expert in your chosen field

10. Dedicate Yourself to Serving Others – The starting point of all personal fortunes

11. Be Absolutely Honest With Yourself and Others – personal integrity = success

12. Set Priorities and Concentrate Single-mindedly – focus on your top tasks all the time

13. Develop a Reputation for Speed and Dependability – the winning edge

14. Be Prepared to Climb From Peak to Peak – recognize cycles and trends in the economy

15. Practice Self-Discipline In All Things – the most important quality for financial success

16. Unlock Your Inborn Creativity – how to solve any problem, achieve any goal

17. Get Around The Right People – surround yourself with winners at all times

18. Take Excellent Care of Your Physical Health – maintain high levels of energy and fitness

19. Be Decisive and Action Oriented – identify the most important action steps you can take

20. Never Allow Failure To Be An Option – overcome the fears that hold most people back

21. Pass the "Persistence Test" – bounce back from defeat and never, ever give up.

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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XI- FINANCIAL LITERACY

Reading Robert Kiyosaki’s book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” turned my life around. To this day I keep that book by my bedside, always, as a reminder of its power. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Quite simply, go… buy… this… book… NOW! Robert Kiyosaki mentions the importance of being ‘financially literate’. Here are a few financial concepts that YOU MUST familiarise yourself with. THE MAGIC OF COMPOUND INTEREST You’ve got to familiarise yourself with the concept of compound interest!!! (for more on this see Marcus de Maria’s article, on page 29). Albert Einstein said that compound interest was “the 8th wonder of the world”! Cut down on a few things, put money aside every week, and invest it! Can you save $6.50 a day? $6.50/day at 16% annual return = $1,000,000 in 25 years. $5,000 invested at 5% interest a month grows to $1 million… in only 9 years! Your money will grow exponentially! This is just a simple way of building wealth, creating a nest egg. This is not about active investment, or creating additional streams of income. It’s an example of how people can become wealthy by following through on a simple plan and being disciplined. SPEND LESS THAN YOU EARN AND INVEST THE DIFFERENCE! Your goal should be to BUILD A CRITICAL MASS OF ASSETS AND CAPITAL FOR LONG-TERM FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE! The Key to Financial Abundance is simple:

• Spend less than you earn, and invest the difference. • Then re-invest your returns for compounded growth until you reach a critical mass of

investment capital that creates the annual income you desire for life! It’s not how much you make that matters – it’s how much you keep. Check out your saving/earning ratio. Live below your means! How much actually drops to your bottom line? Conduct your life like a business where you must have a profit at the end of each year. Make “making a profit”… a MUST!

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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PAY YOURSELF FIRST According to Brian Tracy, this is most powerful process of wealth accumulation ever discovered. ALWAYS pay yourself FIRST. Simply put, this means that every day put money aside to buy income-producing assets, before you pay bills, food, rent, ANYTHING. If you are then pressured to pay the bills, the rent, etc, you WILL find a way to come up with the money. The pressure will MAKE you succeed in doing so. It will require of your brain to work harder, and of you to get smarter, bolder, more determined, more resourceful. Once your money-making ‘muscle’ expands, it will never go back to its original size…

ACCOUNTING AND CASH FLOW PATTERNS Your financial statement is your report card after you leave school. It measures how smart you are financially. You need to review yours on a monthly or quarterly basis, to make sure that you’re on track in producing the results you’ve set for yourself, and to put yourself back on track. Do you know exactly how much you spend? Rule ONE – you must know the difference between an asset and a liability, and then accumulate assets. If you want to be rich, that’s all you need to know. Financial Literacy is knowing your Assets from your Liabilities. Simply put, an asset is something that puts $$$ in your pocket whether you work or not. Conversely, a liability is something that drains you financially month after month (e.g. a boat, a car, your house, etc.) With every $ that comes into your hand, you have a CHOICE. If you’re smart, you’ll use that dollar to buy an asset. Keep acquiring income-generating assets! Businesses that do not require your presence; Stocks; Bonds; Mutual funds; income-generating real-estate; Royalties; etc. Build and maintain your asset column! Once a dollar goes in it… never let it come out!

Once a dollar goes into your asset column, it becomes your employee.

The best thing about money is that it works for you 24 hours a day and can work for generations!

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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The cash flow of an asset The diagram below represents an Income Statement (often called a Profit & Loss statement). It measures income and expenses. Money in and money out. The bottom diagram is the Balance Sheet (Assets vs. Liabilities). By the way, your NET WORTH = ASSETS – LIABILITIES Many financial novices do not know the relationship between the Income Statement and the Balance Sheet. That relationship is vital to understand. The rich focus on their asset columns while everyone else focuses on their income statements. The rich buy assets first, so that they can eventually buy liabilities such as a luxury car, a big house, a boat, etc. Cash flow pattern of a wealthy person

Ca

E

Mo

©2

INCOME

INCOME STATEMENT EXPENSES

BALANCE SHEET

ASSETS

sh flow patt

XPENSES

ney only acce

004 Mark Anastas

LIABILITIES

ern of a poor / middle-class person

INCOME

LIABILITIES (e.g. car, house, boat…)

ASSETS??

ntuates the cash-flow pattern running in your head.

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If your pattern is to spend everything you get, it is very likely that an increase in income will only result in an increase in spending… and even MORE debt. What is missing from people’s education is “how to spend money” – what to do after you make money: how to keep it, and how to make that money work hard for you. For the majority of people, their entire INCOME goes towards their EXPENSES… PLUS towards some LIABILITIES (that then add to their expenses). For wealthy people on the other hand, their INCOME goes towards buying ASSETS (that then increase their income).

In today’s society the “I want it now” mentality is pervasive. We are conditioned by advertisers and the media to always want more stuff to impress people we don’t really care about, and the banks and credit lenders are then more than happy to cater to this madness…

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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XII- DEVELOPING AN “ABUNDANCE CONSCIOUSNESS”

People are poor because they think there isn’t enough money out there, so they feel they need to hoard it, they need to be careful with it, they are miserly, they need to make sure they keep every last dollar that comes their way. This permeates their entire way of being. Because they tell themselves there isn’t much money out there, that becomes their REALITY! Therefore they don’t believe they can get or receive much money, and consequently they don’t even try. Their mind is simply not switched on to the amazing abundance that is out there. Every day millions of new banknotes are being printed and sent out through the country in big trucks. Go out a bit. Every person, every house, every business out there HAS MONEY! Tons of it! It’s everywhere!!! It’s everywhere you go, it’s everywhere you look. EVERYWHERE!!! All you need to do is figure out how to create value for people so that this wealth flows your way! If you have lack in your life, you are “being a person in lack and scarcity.” Turn it around by creating an “abundance consciousness.” The Law of Attraction states that what you focus on you become or attract. “Like Attracts Like”. There is no way to create HEALTH BY FOCUSING ON Sickness! Nor to create wealth if focusing on lack! Who are you being when it’s time to pay the bills? What is your focus on? You need to think as if you already are prosperous… You must feel wealthy now! You are already wealthy beyond belief! You are richer and have more opportunities available to you than the most powerful kings in history! Free yourself from the illusion that you are not wealthy right now. What does it take to feel wealthy? Answer: Feeling grateful. The secret to wealth is… gratitude! You are thanking the universe for the abundance in your life, and showing to your brain that you want more of the good stuff in your life. Go do something to help someone you don’t even know! It will teach your brain that you’ve got more than enough – “Hey, you know what? I deserve to do well because I’m a giver!”

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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XIII- MODELLING RICH PEOPLE’S THINKING At any moment you can choose to adopt new beliefs, you can choose to think and act like wealthy individuals do, and consequently manifest the same results that they do. Start thinking in ways that support you, instead of in ways that don’t! First of all, there are no rich victims. Rich people believe that they and they alone are responsible for anything in their lives – they are the ones creating their lives, with their thoughts, their beliefs, their choices, their words, their actions. They don’t feel like ‘life is happening to me.’ They fully accept responsibility for EVERYTHING in their life, good or bad. This means they have control over how much financial success they experience and how their life turns out ultimately. They KNOW it’s all down to them – and not dependent on any external forces. Instead of taking responsibility for what's going on in their lives, poor people choose to play the role of victim. “Yeah, man. My boss treats me like dirt and only pays me $800 a month!” “That’s nothing, man! MY boss treats me like scum, expects me to work for free, he is doing my wife, I’ve just had my car stolen, AND I may have testicular cancer!” Can you imagine having millions in the bank and still hanging with your ‘victim’ friends trying to upstage them with an even worse problem than they have? How can you tell if someone is playing the victim? They blame everything and everyone for what’s bad in their life… but never accept responsibility for any of it themselves. They blame the weather, the economy, the government, they blame the stock market, they blame their employer, or they blame their employees. Or they justify their situation by saying something like, "Money's not really important." Or they complain constantly. This is the worst thing you could possibly do! There is a universal law that says, "What you focus on expands"! When you are complaining you are focusing on what is going WRONG in your life! You are ensuring that you'll keep getting more of what's wrong. Through the law of attraction, whereby "like attracts like," you are actually attracting "crap" into your life. What do people get out of being a ‘victim’?

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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They get attention, which most people equate to love. For many people it's what they live for. But since there is no such thing as a rich victim, they make darn sure they never get rich. RICH PEOPLE PLAY THE MONEY GAME TO WIN. Poor people play the money game not to lose. RICH PEOPLE FOCUS ON OPPORTUNITIES, growth, rewards. Poor people focus on problems, potential loss, risks. RICH PEOPLE ARE COMMITTED TO BEING RICH. Poor people are uncommitted to being rich. RICH PEOPLE THINK BIG. They choose to serve a massive number of people. Poor people think small. RICH PEOPLE ARE BIGGER THAN THEIR PROBLEMS. Poor people are smaller than their problems. Rich people are fully committed to creating wealth. They will do "whatever it takes" to have wealth (as long as it's moral). How do you want to play the game of life? Will you play big or play small? It's your choice. The truth is most people choose to play small, out of fear, because they are scared to death of failure or of success, or they feel unworthy, like they don’t deserve wealth or they’re not important enough to make a difference. But it’s not about you. It's about living your mission. It's about living in accordance to your purpose in life. It's about serving others. It’s about sharing your gifts and value with as many people as possible. Getting rich can be a journey that is full of obstacles, and fraught with pitfalls. That's why most people don't take it. They don't want the hassles, the headaches and the responsibilities. Poor people will do almost anything to avoid anything that looks like it could be a problem. They back away from challenges. The irony is that in their quest to make sure they don't have problems, they become broke and miserable, living lives of quiet desperation, never pursuing their dreams. The secret to success is not avoiding your problems; it's growing yourself to the point where you are bigger than any problem. Break out of your comfort zones and grow as a person! Challenges and ‘problems’ are the ‘gym’ of life where you sculpt your character, develop your inner strength, and expand your identity!

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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XIV- VISUALIZATIONS & MENTAL REHEARSALS One of the most powerful tools in becoming wealthy and successful is simply this: Visualise yourself as being rich! What do you see? What do you hear? How do you look? What do you feel? What do you smell? Who is around you? What do you spend time doing? Who are you helping? How are you making this a better world? What is your dream house like? How do you feel when walking through it? What toys and gadgets do you own? Create a big, bright, clear image in your mind, and visualize it repeatedly during the day, and especially just before falling asleep. This is possibly THE MOST important exercise you can do to achieve abundance in your life. Play a mental movie in your head, of yourself totally wealthy and prosperous! Make the picture big and bright! Mentally rehearse it again and again and again! Absolutely EXPECT it to happen. The key to this exercise is the amount of emotion you instil your imagined picture with. Your subconscious mind is 30,000 times more powerful than your conscious mind. You can tap into its extraordinary power through visualization. By concentrating on this visualization for 5 straight minutes, you are burning an imprint of it on your subconscious mind, and it will go to work immediately to bring to you anything and everything you desire. The process truly borders on the miraculous, and you need to experience it firsthand to understand just how powerful it can be… The Greek shipping magnate Onassis would rehearse in his head over and over again how he wanted his business meetings to turn out. Like a sorcerer, he would have the most hardened businessmen who’d turned down dozens of other similar proposals saying yes to everything he wanted within moments of meeting him…

AFFIRMATIONS In addition to visualizations, repeat over and over again to yourself, several times a day, so as to create an imprint onto your subconscious: “Every cell of my body is tuned into the immense wealth that surrounds me. Like a magnet, every cell, every atom of my being attracts to me all I need.” “I am wealthy, prosperous, and successful”. “Money and success come to me easily”. “Making money is EASY and it is FUN!” “I am grateful for all the wealth and abundance I am blessed with in my life!”

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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XV- OVERCOMING FINANCIAL CHALLENGES QUICKLY & EFFECTIVELY

There are some very specific steps one can take to overcome problems. I’ve written a whole book about this (11 Steps To Solving ANY Problem). This applies to financial problems as well. Here are the basics:

1- Define the challenge exactly!

What is really the problem? What is the root of it? Why is it a problem, and what are the real consequences of it?

2- Spend only 20% of your time on the problem, and 80% of your time on the solution!

Remember to control the focus of your mind! Where your attention goes, energy flows…

3- Ask yourself some quality problem-solving questions!

- What must I do to turn things around?

- How can I achieve this easily and quickly, and enjoy the process?

- What resources are at my disposal? Who could help me?

- Who do I know that has gone through this before?

- What do I need to do to make this work? Who do I need to be?

- What can I learn from this? What is unbelievably GREAT about this challenge? What is opening up for me?

- What would happen if I did try this approach?

4- Brainstorm 100 solutions!

Write in your journal 100 different things you could do to solve your challenge. Write whatever idea comes into your mind. Don’t stop to analyze it. Be in total creativity overdrive! Go after this challenge like it’s a prey and you are the hunter! When you adopt that behavior, YOU are in control – not the problem. In fact, get a group of people and brainstorm 100 solutions together! Once you’ve taught your brain the pleasure of creative problem-solving, you’ll never go back! Your brain will forever be switched on to coming up with solutions.

5- Take massive, intelligent action!

You know what you’ve got to do. You’ve ALWAYS known. Now…Just…Do… It. Write out your action plan, put yourself in a peak physiology, and just take that first step. Complete that first item on the list. Then the next. And the next. Until it’s done.

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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XVI- INVESTING IN THE STOCKMARKET Learning how to invest in the stockmarket is absolutely critical for anyone serious about wealth creation and achieving financial freedom. Marcus de Maria is a highly successful stock trader and – in his role as Head of Investment Mastery – an international public speaker specializing in teaching beginners how to get started successfully in the stockmarket. Here follows his quick-start no-nonsense guide to investing successfully in the stockmarket. A Beginner’s Guide to Financial Freedom Through the Stockmarket By Marcus de Maria Dear reader, I am delighted to have the opportunity to share these insights with you. My mission is to elevate the financial wellbeing of people everywhere, and if there is ONE message I need to leave with you, it is this… Do NOT put off taking control of your finances another minute – every minute is costing you lost growth and compound interest! The first step you need to take is to acknowledge the fact that you need to take control of your own finances. If you acknowledge this, then half the battle is won. If you give control to others, they might just lose your hard-earned money! After all, no-one, and I mean no-one, is going to care more about your money than you. The second step is that you must find the right vehicle to get yourself where you want to go. If you are in a job, and are dreaming about becoming a millionaire, you are probably going to need to do something else on top of what you are currently doing, to get you there.

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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Choose from The 4 Pillars of Wealth The most popular choices, which will help you become wealthy of financially or financially independent in the shortest possible time, are:

- Investing in the stockmarket

- Investing in property

- Marketing a service or product on the internet

- Owning your own, traditional business

As you can see, the stockmarket is by no means the only vehicle to get you where you want to go. However, I am here to tell you that it is the easiest to access for beginners and the simplest, fastest way to get started, especially if you are serious about making money. Figure a: Why you must consider the stock-market as a source of income Job Normal

business Property Marketing

on internet Stock

Can you protect yourself if the market goes against you? No No No No Yes Location - Totally flexible you can stay at home and do it No No No No Yes No competitors – the more people do it the better No No No No Yes Recession proof No No No No Yes Can you make money within seconds / immediately? No No No No Yes Constant and massive demand for your business No No No No Yes Guaranteed to exist in the future - Fad proof No No Yes No Yes Can anyone do it, regardless of sex, age or physical ability? No No No Yes Yes Can you do it without having customers? No No No Yes Yes Are you totally in control at all times? No No No Yes Yes Can you do it without staff or other people helping you? No No No Yes Yes Is only very low starting capital required? - No No Yes Yes No meetings No No No Yes Yes You can stop activities if you have to and get out easily No No No Yes Yes Huge and unlimited profit margin No No No Yes Yes You absolutely MUST consider the stock-market as an additional stream of income. All it takes is 10 -20 hours to learn my simple and fun strategy, then 2 hours a week to make it work, and in just a few months from now you could be enjoying 3% -6%

GROWTH PER MONTH! It will require focus, dedication, discipline and time to get it right but so do most good things. As long as you know what you are doing, are putting all the odds in your favour, and have safety measures in place to exit a trade as soon as it doesn’t go your way, your success is virtually assured. The point is, start today and in a relatively short period of time you will be on the road towards financial freedom. Once started, you will soon discover that using this smart Investing strategy will improve your performance in other areas of your life also. Your mind and thought patterns will become faster and sharper, and you will start to notice opportunities and possibilities in other areas of life like never before.

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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The 6 Steps to Successful Investing 1. Find a strategy that suits your personality and lifestyle A seriously wealthy trader once said to me, “Marcus, you know more about trading than I do”. I had been on course after course searching for what I can only describe as ‘the Holy Grail of Investing’ – the one amazing sure-fire high-return low-risk strategy that would guarantee financial success. I spent over $50,000 in the process, so yes, I guess I did know a lot about trading. He then looked me square in the eyes and said, “Yes, you know how to trade. The difference is, I know how to make money”. This sentence struck me like a freight train. The truth is we shouldn’t be interested in learning all the different ways one can trade, which can confuse people. Rather, we should choose ONE strategy that suits our personality and lifestyle best and then master it until we start making money! This is a crucial distinction. So that is exactly what I proceeded to do. The strategy best suited for me I had learned on the very first course I attended! “Do you mean I don’t need to learn loads of different stockmarket strategies?” That’s exactly what I am saying. I hope you are breathing a sigh of relief. There is no Holy Grail. You don’t need to learn a lot of different strategies – just pick the one that resonates with you. Then learn and practice that strategy until you have thoroughly mastered it. Did you know that markets go only in three directions: up, down or sideways? So doesn’t it make sense to focus our energies on 1 or 2 strategies that can take advantage of these three market movements? As the experts in teaching beginners, we have found two strategies that take advantage of these market movements and that are ideally suited for beginners. One of these takes just 2 hours a month, always on the same weekend each month and still makes anywhere between 3-6% a month. Yes, I really did say ‘a month’, and this equates to 36-72% a year. And these are just the beginners’ strategies, but let’s learn how to drive before we step into a Ferrari. For details on these strategies, please visit www.investment-masteryUSA.com/strategies. The next few pages contain probably the most powerful information I can share with

you, so if you have read this far, you are about to be rewarded.

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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2. Make small returns, re-invest and compound your money! After you have decided on strategies that takes advantage of all market conditions, you need to do 2 simple things: a. Let your profits run and keep your losses short This is where most people get it wrong when investing. They take their profits too early when they feel they have made enough (what is enough?!) and do the opposite when they are losing money. They watch as their losses get larger, hoping that the stock will turn around, even though their rules tells them to cut their losses short at, say 10%. As the 10% turns into a 15% or 20%-loss, they feel even worse and now rationalise that they really cannot sell the stock. Worse still, some even buy back into the stock, thinking it is now cheap. b. Compound your returns Now the question you might be asking is how can you become financially free on just 3% a month? Surely you need to be aiming at 100%? Nothing could be further from the truth. Albert Einstein called compounding “the Eighth Wonder of the World”. Take a look at the compounding sheet below: Can you see that if you started off with, say $10,000 in your trading account and you made just 3.5% a month (most stocks move this much in a day), then you would make $350 in your first month. Compounding sheet – without adding capital (Note: this is theoretical. Commissions & taxes not included)

INITIAL AMOUNT 10,000

% return / month 1.035 (3.5% per month)

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11

JAN 10,350 15,640 23,632 35,710 53,961 81,538 123,210 186,179 281,329 425,107 642,366

FEB 10,712 16,187 24,460 36,960 55,849 84,392 127,522 192,695 291,175 439,986 664,848

MAR 11,087 16,753 25,316 38,254 57,804 87,346 131,986 199,439 301,366 455,385 688,118

APR 11,475 17,340 26,202 39,593 59,827 90,403 136,605 206,420 311,914 471,324 712,202

MAY 11,877 17,947 27,119 40,978 61,921 93,567 141,386 213,644 322,831 487,820 737,129

JUN 12,293 18,575 28,068 42,413 64,088 96,842 146,335 221,122 334,130 504,894 762,929

JUL 12,723 19,225 29,050 43,897 66,331 100,231 151,456 228,861 345,825 522,565 789,631

AUG 13,168 19,898 30,067 45,433 68,653 103,739 156,757 236,871 357,929 540,855 817,269

SEP 13,629 20,594 31,119 47,024 71,056 107,370 162,244 245,162 370,456 559,785 845,873

OCT 14,106 21,315 32,209 48,669 73,543 111,128 167,922 253,742 383,422 579,377 875,478

NOV 14,600 22,061 33,336 50,373 76,117 115,018 173,800 262,623 396,842 599,655 906,120

DEC 15,111 22,833 34,503 52,136 78,781 119,043 179,883 271,815 410,731 620,643 937,834

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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From the compounding sheet above you see that with a 3.5% monthly return it only takes 5 years and 6 months to get from $10,000 to $500,000. What other vehicle can match that? It is the next part which is the Eighth Wonder of the World: how long does it take to make another $500,000 to get to $1,000,000? Does it take another 5 years? Take a good look at the chart above so you see for yourself. It actually takes just another 1 ¾ years. 1 ¾ years to make an extra $500,000. Now that’s what I call ‘exponential growth’. And it doesn’t stop there. If you carry on you can make another $1,000,000 in another 1 ¾ years. That’s $1,000,000 in 1 ¾ years. And it continues like that: $2,000,000 in another 1 ¾ etc. This is the power of compounding. We all can use it to our advantage. Start using it for our children so that you have a lump sum for them when they come of age, teach them how to use it, use it in your pension plans etc. This is without adding any additional capital. Can you imagine what would have happened if you would have invested some more money in year 2? So WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO START INVESTING AND TAKING ADVANTAGE OF COMPOUND INTEREST? What is your next excuse? Is it you are too old, or too young, don’t know enough, you have a tooth-ache or are you simply going to make the decision you should have taken a while back and start today? If you want to put your own data into the chart and play around with it to see how long it takes for you to reach your first $1 million, go to www.investment-masteryUSA.com/compounding. It is free and it will motivate you to get started.

0

500,000

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Year1

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The problem with most people is that they don’t want to go through the learning of the first few years. See the chart below? It shows how exponential the curve of the compounding sheet look

when viewed as a picture. It doesn’t really move much in the first few years does it? Most people want to get straight to year 5 and above, when it really starts taking off, but as you can see you have to go through year 1 – 4 to get to year 5. And yet so many people I meet on an almost daily basis are so eager to grow their money fast and make their money grow exponentially

will be willing to take on risk which quite frankly a beginner just doesn’t need to when they know about compounding Let us recap. Imagine you have been on a good course or watched a good DVD explaining your strategy.

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You have sets up an account (click www.investment-masteryUSA.com/broker to get our instructions of opening up a broker account). You may already have transferred money into your trading account and are ready to go. The next step is to practice by simulating the trades.

3. Simulate or virtual trade What we recommend to our clients is to simulate or virtual trade. I wish someone had told me that when I started! It has saved our students thousands of dollars in losses. Using a virtual account brings with it some of the emotions you are likely to experience when trading for real, like fear and greed. The idea is stay with virtual trading until you make money on a consistent basis. Only then can you consider using your hard-earned money.

4. Invest with a part of your money Finally when you are ready, start putting some money into the trades. I say some money because you won’t want to put all your money into the market, even though you have spent time practicing. Money management is key and we could devote a whole article just to this subject. For now, divide your money up into chunks that you feel comfortable with. For example, if you have $10,000, divide your trades up into $2,000 until you get comfortable. Once you are comfortable with investing larger chunks you can do so. Remember it is better to have a small profit of a larger sum than a large profit of a smaller sum because in the latter you are taking on more risk.

5. Maximise your returns even further! We could write a whole book on various advanced strategies, involving investing with options, for example, but this is beyond the scope of my article here. It has been my pleasure to offer you a short insight into the world of stockmarket investing. It is now up to you to TAKE ACTION. My DVD, “The Ultimate Beginners’ Guide To Making Money from Stockmarket Investing”, retails for $79.95. However, as a special one-off offer to readers of Mark Anastasi’s Financial Freedom Action Plan, it is yours for just $20 plus p&p. To claim your path to financial independence, please go to: www.investment-masteryUSA.com. Invest with passion! Marcus de Maria www.investment-masteryUSA.com [email protected]

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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XVII- INVESTING IN REAL ESTATE One of my main intentions, with this e-book, is to inspire you to ACT and TAKE CONTROL of your financial destiny. I want you to realize that opportunities to make money abound all around us all the time! In property, for example, there are a hundred and one ways many ways to buy property with ‘no money down’. You will find many books about this. An example would be getting the seller to lend you the money for the deposit on the mortgage. Presto, you’ve just created a passive monthly rental income for yourself. You can also turn to the Internet to find people offering 100% financing for real-estate. (Be careful though, when it comes to no-money-down real estate – make sure you have enough cash reserves; since you are fully leveraged, you could get in trouble if the market goes against you.) Let me relate to you the inspiring story of my good friend Deep Vadesha. Deep graduated from University in 2001, with a degree in Economics, at a time when the job market for young graduates in England was bombing. Unable to find a job that appealed to him, he came up with a plan. He knew of a property that was selling for below its market value, close to where he lived. He didn’t have a dime to his name, but still was determined to get that piece of real estate. He wrote a business proposal that he gave to a few of his relatives and friends, and within a few days he had raised enough capital to put a deposit on the house. He was 21 years old, and he had just bought his first property, with none of his own money. By the time he was 23, he owned a portfolio of over 20 properties, and was completely financially free. (You may wish to visit his website – www.property-course.com – to find out exactly how he did this.) You see, most wealthy individuals either made their money in property… or they invest a large chunk of their assets in property. Just like investing in the Stockmarket, it is one more revenue source that you owe to yourself to explore further.

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Why is property a great investment? $100,000 will buy you $100,000-worth of a business, of stocks, of diamonds, or whatever. But how much real estate can you buy with that amount? The answer: easily up to $1 million because the banks will lend you money to buy property every day of the week. They are much more reticent, though, to lend you money but not for a business, stocks, antiques, gold, etc. So, for only 10% of a property’s value, you can get a mortgage that will pay for the remaining 90%. Furthermore, if you are diligent about finding properties below market value, you can find properties worth, say, $1.4 million, selling for only $1 million! So, with only $100,000 you could have just secured yourself a $1.4 million property! “How can that be??”, some of you might say. “Surely no one would be dumb enough to sell below market value!” The fact of the matter is, people sell their properties for less than they are worth every day of the week. Real estate is a very inefficient market, and highly illiquid. Sometimes a seller just wants OUT, because they are moving countries, because they want to buy something else, because they need to pay off debts, because the property is an inheritance and the children just want to share the proceeds fast… A thousand and one reasons. Can you imagine having your property on the market for a whole year, and not getting any buyers? A lot of people would jump at the chance to sell their property below market value. So, a recap: You can buy for much less than the purchase price You can buy for much less than the property’s value. Furthermore, there is a thousand and one ways you can INCREASE a property’s value. You can paint it, re-decorate, add a garage… the options are limitless. After a property has risen in value, you can then go back to the bank and ask for a new loan against the property’s increased valuation. And since it’s a loan, not ‘income’, it’s not taxable! This means you can get your money out without selling the property! In real estate, if your property goes up in value, you can take the money out and defer your taxes indefinitely.

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Plus, you can take these returns and invest them into your next property. You now have a regular passive income – the rental cheques. Those cheques keep rolling in month after month after month, and that rental income and property value are indexed for inflation. It’s a very steady investment vehicle, so you don’t need to be checking your investment every 5 minutes. How do you decide whether to buy a property or not? It is fairly straightforward, and you get better and better at analyzing properties the more you look at: What is the location? Is it close to schools? Close to shops? What is the purchase price? What proportion is required as a cash down-payment? What is the mortgage interest rate, and is it an interest-only loan or a principle and interest loan? What is the capital growth rate? What are the market trends? How do you find a great real estate opportunity? It’s not rocket-science. Warren Borsje is my mentor in the area of property investments. His story is extraordinary. Born in Australia, he left school at 13, and began a carpentry apprenticeship. When his apprenticeship finished four years later, instead of being offered a job, he got fired! Two years on the dole and a failed business later, he was in serious financial trouble. He was 24, and completely broke. He knew there had to be a better way. There was more to life than this. He proceeded to approach wealthy individuals and offer his help for free, in order to learn from them. He read hundreds of books on wealth and attended many seminars on the topic of money. Within 3 years he became a property millionaire, and within 5 years a multi-millionaire. His property portfolio now spans the globe and is worth tens of millions of dollars. Since 1997 he has devoted his life to teaching people from all walks of life about wealth creation

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Like myself, seeing so many people struggle financially, and the anguish and fear that comes with it, pains us. I highly recommend that you visit his websites www.WarrenBorsje.com or www.LogicL.com and consider attending his courses. Warren was the catalyst that got me started on my quest for financial freedom. His free DVD, that I remember watching over and over again one dark and rainy Saturday about a year-and-a-half ago – “Welcome To Freedom” – inspired me to attend my first Anthony Robbins seminar (“Unleash The Power Within”) and also made me realize that I could actually learn about what it takes to become wealthy (until then I guess I’d never really thought about it). This is the crux of what Warren had to share with me, when it comes to success in the real estate game. It is so simple, and yet I can assure you that 99% of real estate investors don’t practice this because they think they’re so clever… The 100-10-3-1 rule. In real estate, you make your money when you BUY, not when you sell. You can make $20,000 or $100,000 or $400,000 in a few days, just by negotiating a great price on a property. Look at 100 properties, put really low offers on 10, maybe just 3 of the offers are accepted. You then need to get the finance – you’ll probably find the finance for one. If you are in full-time employment, why not look at a dozen properties every weekend! Warren told me once: “Mark, I guarantee you that if you look at 100 interesting properties, you will find the ‘bargain of the century’ every time”. The more properties you analyze, the better and faster you get at it! And it doesn’t cost you anything – it’s like window-shopping.

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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XVIII- DESTROYING YOUR LIMITING BELIEFS ABOUT MONEY

What are your beliefs about money and wealth? What does “Having money” mean to YOU? How about “Not having money”? What do you think of rich people? How do you feel when you see a really wealthy individual drive by in a big luxury car? There’s one and only reason if you’re not wealthy right now: you have not conditioned yourself for wealth. What is the foremost reason people fail financially? Answer: because they associate negative connotations to excess wealth! You might want wealth, but you have conflicting values and beliefs about being rich. If, like a lot of people, you suffer from “LACK CONSCIOUSNESS”, you probably have some very wrong definitions of what poverty is, and wrong ideas about what wealth is. You have probably adopted BELIEFS that aren’t serving you in those areas. Most people still harbour the belief at a subconscious level that “rich people are evil”, and that is what keeps them in poverty. The challenge is, your subconscious mind will NEVER allow you to be “bad”, “evil”, etc. according to your own definitions of these values, because you may want money, but you don’t want to be “bad”, unloved, judged, etc. The solution? Bless what you want to have – celebrate prosperity and rich people! Bless their abundance, bless their hard work, bless the fact that they have probably created MASSIVE amounts of VALUE for their fellow human beings.

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LIMITING BELIEFS ABOUT MONEY AND WEALTH Most of us know it would be wonderful to be rich. But are there reasons why it might not be so great to be rich? Have you ever had any of the following thoughts?

• “In order to make money, I’m going to have to work so hard, I won’t have time to enjoy it, so why even try?”

• “To make money you need to be really smart, and I’m not smart enough…”

• “To make money you have to take advantage of other people, and I would never…”

• “I won’t have time for my family…”

• The Bible: “It’s easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for a rich man

to get through the gates of Heaven…”

• “People will start judging me…”

• “I’ll get sucked in…”

• “Money doesn’t grow on trees…”

• “What about my spiritual side…?”

• “I’ll have to pay more taxes… the Tax office will be after me…”

• “The rich get richer while the poor get poorer…”

• “It’s not fair that some people have more than others…”

• “Rich people are greedy...”

• “What if I make it and lose it? Then I’m really a failure...”

• “I’ll never know if people like me for myself or my money...”

• “Everyone’s going to want a handout…”

• “I might lose my health trying… It might be way too stressful…”

• “My loved ones or I could get kidnapped… We might be the victims of crime…” People knock themselves out of the game before they even start to bat! Such mixed associations cause people to “live in lack”.

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Did you ever hear phrases like:

• “Money is the root of all evil...” • “Save your money for a rainy day...” • “Money doesn't grow on trees...” • “You can't be rich and spiritual...” • “What am I made of.... money?” • “Money doesn't buy happiness...” • “Money can’t buy you love...”

• “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer…” • “That's not for people like us...” • “We can't afford it...”

Most such statements, overheard while still a child, are still running your financial life! They are in your subconscious mind! Most people grow up in a family where they didn’t have much money – that became their reality! Indeed, most of us live by ideas passed on down by our parents. I was verbally conditioned to believe that rich people are greedy. Therefore, my mind linked up "rich" and greedy or "bad." Since I didn’t want to be "bad," subconsciously my mind couldn’t allow me to be rich. EVERYTHING we do HAS to be in alignment with the IDENTITY we have created for ourselves. NOT HAVING ENOUGH MONEY IS NEVER, EVER A PROBLEM! It is a result; “If a problem exists, it’s in your thinking and how that thinking manifests through feelings and actions to produce your results. It is the result of conditioned and largely automatic thinking.” – T Harv Ecker. If you want to change your results, your "Fruits", your will need to change your thoughts – THAT’S the source (or the ‘roots’). You need to remove your emotional blocks when it comes to money! If you have a relationship filled with anger, resentment, guilt, fear, etc. will it grow and blossom? Remember what you were taught about money whilst growing up. Ridicule these negative/limiting beliefs. Destroy them, eliminate them! Attach new beliefs to these statements. Link absolute PLEASURE to having total financial freedom!

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EMPOWERING BELIEFS ABOUT MONEY AND WEALTH

• Money is nothing but the measure of the value I create for other people!

• Money is nothing but the manifestation of my resourcefulness! • Money-making is FUN and it is EASY! (If you make earning money interesting and

fun, you won’t believe what will happen to your life!)

• ABUNDANCE = An Unlimited Sense of Opportunity!

• Prosperity & Abundance are my natural state! They are my birthright! Feelings of lack, frustration… are not my natural state. My natural state is one of Total Abundance!

• Money gives me freedom. Choices. The chance to follow my dreams!

• When people feel they don’t have enough, it doesn’t encourage them to bring forth the

highest level of the human spirit on a consistent basis. Wherever I see a lack, I see crime in mass, escape through drugs, divorce, taking advantage of other people “simply to survive”…

Lack does not bring out the best in people. There’s nothing spiritual about poverty. When we have abundance, we stop focusing on ourselves and on how we’re going to survive, and we begin to look at how we can contribute to our fellow man.

Human beings are spirits that are here to contribute. When “in lack”, or in “survival mode”… the focus is on you. Use your money as a positive tool in the lives of those you care about as well as in your own! Get off those silly guilt trips that have held you back in the past!

• I believe that living prosperously is to live in HARMONY with what your creator had in

mind for you.

It is a SIN to be poor. Poverty = unfulfilled potential. You are failing to use your God-given gifts! You are being lazy & selfish! Put yourself out there, put yourself on the line, break out of your comfort zones, and share your gifts with the world! “It's time to stop hiding out and start stepping out. It's time to stop needing and start leading. It's time to start being the star that you are. It's time to share your gifts and value in a BIG way.

There could be thousands or even millions of people counting on you.

Are you up to the challenge for our society and our children's sake?

Let's hope so.” – T. Harv Ecker.

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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XIX- THE BIGGER PICTURE Play A Big Game, Reclaim Your Dreams, Dig Into Life And Be Joyful! LISTEN, YOU ARE GOING TO DIE ANYWAY, SO YOU MIGHT AS WELL GO FOR IT! BE A PLAYER IN THE GAME OF LIFE! PLAY FULL OUT! BE FULLY ALIVE! TAKE ADVANTAGE OF EVERY MOMENT YOU ARE GIVEN! LIVE A BIG LIFE! CREATE A BIG GAME, WHERE YOU ARE CHALLENGED EVERY MOMENT TO BE AT YOUR VERY BEST! LIFE IS NOT LIKE A MOVIE… YOU ONLY GET ONE TAKE.

“Somebody should tell us right at the start of our lives that we are dying... Then, we might live life to the limit! Every minute of every day!

DO IT, I SAY! WHATEVER IT IS YOU WANT TO DO! Do it NOW! There are only so many tomorrows...”

– Actor Michael Landon, afflicted with terminal pancreatic cancer, in a 1991 Life Magazine interview.

One of my outcomes is that you become unstoppable in the pursuit of your dreams. When you give up on your dreams, you are killing off your soul! Most people are dead at 30, buried at 70! Is that what you want for your life? What do you REALLY love doing? What truly fires you up? What do you want to create? Remember, anything you can conceive, you can achieve. What’s Your Passion? When it comes to money, most people want to play it safe and feel secure. Passion does not direct them – FEAR does. If you are not in your true Life Direction it is almost impossible to be successful. Do you want to succeed and move fast? Make sure you’re in the right arena for yourself. Get in alignment with who you really are, and with the right vehicle for yourself. Passion comes naturally when you’re moving in your Life’s true direction. Get a vehicle that’s suited to YOU! What would you be doing right now if you had absolutely no limitations? What is it that you love doing most in your life? How could you do it in a way that other people will benefit and be willing to pay to take part in something you love?

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Focus On Helping OTHERS! This might seem hard to understand right now, but the Universe rewards those that are living their lives ON PURPOSE and are serving others. In fact, the more you serve others, the more you will receive back. If you want to put your life on purpose and experience a massive shift in your quality of life, try eliminating the mantra “What’s in it for me?”, and choose instead “How Can I Serve More People?” Without helping other people… you are not ‘connected’. Only when you are ‘connected’ to the Universe will you find true fulfilment. By the way, human beings will do more for someone they love than they would ever do for themselves. Who do you care about so much that you will devote your life to making theirs better? What causes do you really believe in and would like to support? Find a team of people you would do anything for. This will drive you and keep you focused. Live Your Purpose! Do you really know what your PURPOSE is in life? Let me tell you, the second I realized I had a mission to perform whilst on this planet, I became UNSTOPPABLE. To discover your purpose, ask yourself these questions:

• What would you be doing right now, if you had absolutely no limitations, you were a billionaire, and you knew you could not fail?

• What would you share with the world, if your message were to be broadcast throughout

all of the world’s television stations for 5 minutes? Being In The Flow Of Life Most extraordinarily successful people would do what they do for free – and many of these same people are outstanding at what they do, their confidence is unshakable, and they make enormous amounts of money. They are simply in the flow of life. It is the actions and achievements of these people they write about in history books.

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If you follow their lead, you’ll appear to work harder than ever before… and yet you won’t work a day in your life and you’ll be happier than ever before. You’ll be calm and confident. When work and play blend and you don’t want to go home at the end of the working day, then you know you’re fulfilling your purpose in life. When you are in the flow of life, you are passionate about what you do, excited about the future, driven, motivated, successful, enthusiastic, joyful, creative, fully self-expressed, you are fully alive, you feel like you’re in the right place, you are guided, it is effortless, everything just flows, the right situations and people come to you, and it feels like you can’t put a foot wrong… What’s the possibility out there that WANTS YOU? What is the mission that is powerfully calling you into being? DISCOVER IT… AND THEN GIVE YOUR LIFE TO IT! PUT IN YOUR WHOLE HEART, YOUR WHOLE SOUL, YOUR WHOLE BEING IN IT!!! This takes courage, integrity, passion, but TAKE A STAND FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN! A stand is unreasonable. It’s ferocious when it has to be. When you take a stand, you cannot be moved. You are bold and unreasonable. In an interview with Anthony Robbins, this is what Dr. Wayne Dyer had to say on living ‘on purpose’:

“The day I resigned from a job I wasn’t totally involved in, I drove home the freest man I’d ever felt. I knew I was about to follow my bliss… […] It’s so interesting. When you get off trying to get something, and just stay on purpose… it’s like that great quote from Thoreau: ‘If you advance confidently in the direction of your dreams, endeavour to live the life that you have imagined, you will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

Dave O’Connor of Educo Mind Power™ (www.educomindpower.com) explains in his seminars that as soon as you are in the flow, you are happier, worries melt away, you experience euphoria, and you get the benefit of whole brain thinking. Many ‘programs’ that we’ve adopted through cultural conditioning cover up our spirit. Our natural state, when you take away the programs, is one of peace and of being in the flow. He urges people to “Enjoy your life, move into what you’re supposed to be doing, and connect with your spirit. Align yourself with your TRUE PURPOSE, YOUR ONE AND ONLY TRUE LIFE PATH. Line up with your spirit! It is then effortless. Success comes with grace and elegance. WHAT ARE YOUR DREAMS? DISCOVER WHAT YOU ARE HERE FOR… AND THEN DO IT! UNDERSTAND WHO YOU REALLY ARE AND WHAT YOU ARE HERE TO DO!” According to Dave, most people, at the end of their lives, did not get to where they were supposed to go. Only 2% of people get what they truly wanted out of life.

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As for the rest… “Dead at 30… buried at 70.” Have you slotted into a random job because you needed the money? Has your life A POINT? Are you an inspiration to anyone? Remember that on your deathbed, you will never wish you’d spent more time in the office… Do what you LOVE in life! Close your eyes and picture yourself at your perfect job. Can you see it? What are you doing? Don’t ever settle for where you are if it is incongruent with what you really want to be doing. “If money were no object and you knew you could not fail, what would you do in your life?” - The immediate answer to this question will uncover your passion and what you should be doing right now. You have my word that within your answer to the above question lies all the joy, passion, and juice in life. All your worries and anxieties will melt away, as you begin to focus single-mindedly on accomplishing your vision for what you want to see happen in the world. Have you ever done a completely selfless act, and helped someone out of the goodness of your heart? Didn’t it feel AMAZING? I would like you to consider for a second the possibility that THAT is what we are all here for. We all share the same PURPOSE, and yet it is different for each and every one of us. We get to express it in our own, unique way, with our specific talents and abilities. If we are truly – as a lot of spiritually enlightened people have said – spirits having a human experience, here on Earth with the purpose of expressing LOVE and contributing to our fellow man, wouldn’t it stand to reason that when we put our life ON PURPOSE, we find ourselves? It’s like coming home? We find ‘balance’? Inner Peace? I can tell you from personal experience that the minute I put my life ‘ON PURPOSE’ – my decision to devote my life to my mission – EVERYTHING started flowing in my life. Happiness, Wealth, Friendship, Respect, Confidence… You name it. I truly live a blessed life, for which I am forever grateful.

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A Spiritual Guide To Wealth In a series of books by Lee Carroll, the author channels the spiritual entity ‘Kryon’ (www.kryon.com). According to Kryon, he is one of many spiritual entities who are of service to Mankind, doing the work of God, from the other side of the ‘veil’. We apparently each have 2 spirit guides, that communicate with us through our intuition and our dreams. Kryon advises us to communicate directly with them through prayers, asking out loud what we need. Here follow two of my favourite passages from Kryon – The End Times, Book 1 (Copyright 1993)

“When you are successfully transmuting negative to positive, the universe sees you as doing your job and fulfilling your contract. If you also happen to be starving at the same time, the universe isn’t aware of it! How can this be (you might say)? Remember that you are biological, in lesson, in a small cultural goldfish bowl that is unique to humans. The universe must be informed what you need, and this is done by communicating to your guides. Odd as it may sound, all things non-spiritual must be asked for. The universe indeed knows what your next karmic lesson is, or what you must go through, or what neat opportunity is coming your way, but it must be informed about what you need to exist in the human goldfish bowl. […] Let them know that you need work, or the amount of money you require, or how the universe can help get you into a place where you are able to work less and earn more, etc. don’t be too specific about the ‘hows’ or you’ll limit the result, since it will be literal. […] The guides actually need to be talked to. Verbalize these things out loud. Listen to yourself stay the words. Then stand back! You will absolutely get what you discussed. Things start happening, and they happen in some of the least expected ways.” “There is no greater new power than that of verbalization and visualization. These two combined will create purpose and substance where nothing existed before but negativity and darkness. With this in mind, how can you be still?”

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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XX- TAKING ACTION IS THE KEY TO ACHIEVING FINANCIAL FREEDOM

There are two types of people in this world. The DOERS… and the talkers. Which one are you? Guess what, EVERY SINGLE WEALTHY INDIVIDUAL OUT THERE IS A DOER! They went out there and made things happen. They took chances, even when completely unsure about the outcome! Do not be wishy-washy and do not procrastinate… EVER. Make things happen NOW. Do what needs to be done NOW. DO things! Create! Remember: Nothing ventured, nothing gained! What are 2 actions that you have been putting off? How would you feel once they are done and completed? What small action could you take right now to start taking care of this? MAKE THEM HAPPEN!

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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XXI- ASSIGNMENTS

• In order to become wealthy, to become financially free, or achieve ANYTHING in life, you must have strong “why’s”. Grab a pen and paper and list 100 reasons why you MUST have more money! This is crucial!

• Brainstorm 100 ways you can make more money.

Write 3 business/money-making ideas, inventions, opportunities, etc. a day (for 30 days). Condition yourself daily for wealth and for looking out for opportunities! Keep using your brain, and soon your mind will show you incredible new ways of making money. You will see opportunities that other people never see. Most people simiply focus on getting a paycheck and security, so that’s all they get, and they miss out on all the incredible opportunities out there.

• Close your eyes and visualize your ultimate, rich, successful, happy SELF. Where will you

be? Who will be with you? How do you look? What do you smell? What do you hear? What do you own? What are you creating? What does your dream house look like?

• Use the ‘Edison Pad’ – just before going to sleep write down a ‘quality question’ ( e.g.

‘How can I double my income within 2 months?’ ‘How can I add 3 times as much value in the same amount of time?’) Your brain will come up with solutions while you sleep!

• Plan exactly what you’re going to do with your wealth once you get it. What would you

spend, say, $8 million on?

• Every day, for 30 days, write down exactly how much you’ve spent, and on what.

• Think of 5 things you’d like to have, do, or become, if money were no object.

• Take your list of goals, photocopy it, place it EVERYWHERE. Then connect with it on a daily basis.

• Repeat the affirmation “Making money is EASY and it is FUN!” over and over again every

chance you get! ©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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Page 52: The Complete Guide To Achieving Financial Freedom

XXII- FINAL THOUGHTS… Getting rich requires focus, hard work, and perseverance. It takes being willing to make mistakes, learn from them, pick yourself up, and try again. If you are not fully committed to creating wealth, chances are you won't. You have to really commit to it, both consciously and subconsciously. You have to believe in your heart you can do it and that you deserve it. The biggest challenge you’ll have is dealing with your self-doubt and limiting beliefs. As I mentioned in the introduction, my outcomes are to give you back your freedom and have you rekindle your DREAMS! I want to see people working at what they’re passionate about! 90% of people are working at jobs they HATE! What a waste of their LIFE! Imagine how much more value would be created if we all were passionate about what we do! Imagine if everyone was living a life of joy, passion, contribution, true meaning, and purpose! I hope you are now COMMITTED to becoming wealthy – if not for yourself, then for the sake of your loved ones, and society as a whole. Imagine all the good you could do with a million dollars. How many lives would you save? How many children would you help? Stop being lazy and selfish! There may be millions of people out there counting on you! I hope you have enjoyed and been inspired by the ideas contained in this book. But this is just a beginning. I highly recommend that you continue your “Wealth Education”, by whichever means you choose to do so. Visit www.mark-anastasi.com for a complete listing of all wealth-related resources, books, tapes, seminars, etc., many of which are free. I look forward to hearing your success stories in due course (email: [email protected]) Blessed be Mark Anastasi

©2004 Mark Anastasi – All rights reserved.

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