Financial Freedom Report

Gold prices are on the upswing again after months of slumping, and the precious metals market is once again teasing investors with the promise of big gains – fast. But the nature of that kind of investing means that while investors may make money, it’s a bit of instant gratification that has little to offer for the long term. And that’s what makes real estate the investing gift that keeps on giving – as long as you don’t treat it like gold.

Precious metals investing offers investors the chance to make a profit, sometimes very substantial, if they sell quickly when the price is right. But as Shawn Watkins of Investing Workshops explains it, once the deal is done, what profit an investor makes is static. In order to make more money, it’s necessary to buy more gold –at a price that may be very different. And that gold isn’t going to be working for an investor: yielding a regular annual return, or earning tax breaks and credits.

Real estate can – as long as you don’t treat it like gold. House flipping – buying real estate at low prices and selling it as fast as possible for a profit -is a lot like buying gold. House flippers don’t look to the long term – they turn their profits back into the next house, and the next one.

Because house flippers sell as soon as they can, they lose the opportunity to make long term returns in the form of rents and tax breaks. And they may face even more taxes on profits made from the sales of assets. What’s more, any profits made can be devoured by the next attempt to get back into the investing game.

Investors who build long-term wealth put their assets to work for them, with a steady return year after year and the annual round of tax breaks that make real estate the most tax friendly investment available. While house flipping does involve buying residential real estate, the fast turnaround eliminates all those opportunities for ongoing returns.

As Jason Hartman says, buying – and holding – residential property is the key to building long term wealth. The steady return from rents, along with the still-formidable list of tax breaks and credits available to investors in income property may not be as dramatic as buying gold – or flipping houses – but for creating solid income streams, it’s no flash in the pan.

Jason Hartman gets nervous when homes in his neighborhood start making dramatic leaps in price. Why, you ask? It’s because equity makes him nervous. Should a natural disaster come along, the homeowner is in trouble. It’s a lot of responsibility.

If you’ve got an employee working for you and he or she is lazy, you’ll likely fire them. Treat your money the same way—get rid of the lazy money, or put it to work.

Consider refinancing and buy more rental properties with the money you make. Refi additional loans too. Get a fixed rate mortgage. Don’t get scared or worried if you have your property evaluated and notice that it fluctuates in value—the cost of improvement and the cost of land both go up. But the most significant risk is in areas of high land value, where dramatic appreciation can happen. There is high risk in high land value.

As an investor, you simply avoid markets where this is the case. Think of it this way—Jason purchased a home in Georgia for $159,000 and the insurance company said that they’re insure the house for $135,000. The improvement is the only thing insured because the land will always be there. Cost of house minus insurance equals only $24,000—which is the value of the land.

If the land goes down in value, even by half, only $12,000 is lost. So when you’re choosing your investment markets, look at the cost of land in this way.

We’ve said it once and we’ll say it again—the world is growing and all of these people are going to need a place to live. And we’re making more people but we’re certainly not getting any more land. Find areas with cheap land now and build houses. It’s the best job security you’ll ever have.

Of course, if you’re looking for more information, Jason Hartman offers a wealth of free resources to help you make money and develop a great investment portfolio. He’s got a bunch of free podcasts where he answers questions and offers advice, but also interviews industry experts. He’s got his blog, his list of free tools right here on the website. You can even shop for properties online!

Of course, if you’re more of a one on one, in person kind of person, contact him directly or attend one of his events held throughout the year!

If you’ve been listening to Jason Hartman for long, you’ve probably heard him say that he’s not an optimist, but an opportunist. Time, Mother Nature, and Government operate largely independently of us as individuals, so rather than lament the destruction that each of them can cause, we recommend finding ways to make them work in your favor.

Time You’ve probably noticed that most people have too much life left at the end of their money, and not the other way around. People are living longer and healthier, which means more money is required.

As an investor, longevity can really work in your favor. As we continue to live longer, the government prints more money to sustain us. This causes inflation-induced debt destruction. Essentially, the value of our debts are destroyed—increasing the value of commodities (which make up our income properties). Times, they are a’changin—in your favor!

Mother Nature Natural disasters continue to happen and create chaos and catastrophe. They displace people, destroy businesses, and create a feeling of uncertainty for everyone. But even large scale disasters can provide a fresh start.

Old homes that are potentially dangerous are replaced by newer, more stable properties. Developers find areas recently affected by natural disasters and pay high prices for pieces of land adjacent to one another, build fancy homes, make a decent profit. Those who suffer the consequences of Mother Nature sometimes profit from their insurance claims, and those who supply commodities make money in rebuilding efforts. Mother Nature causes upward pressure on the commodities that make up your investments.

Government While you may or may not agree with the way the government spends money, it is important to understand that it just might be good to you as an investor. What you might identify as being bad for the country is good for you—so embrace the positive. Government spending creates inflation—and that is great for investors!

Smartphones and tablets, iPhone, iPad and Android – mobile devices are the heirs of the home computer, making it possible to do business anywhere and everywhere. There’s an app for virtually every need, including investing and managing investment properties. Here’s a rundown of five handy apps, mostly free, from leading app stores for investors on the go.

The Landlord AppFor purchase on both the iPhone and Android devices, this app allows landlords to keep track of tenants, rental payments and other expenditures. The app can also provide updates on property values and home prices, and help check backgrounds of prospective tenants.

AroundMeFree for iPhone and Android, AroundMe tracks properties around a user’s rentals for changing property values, availability for purchase and rent, and much more. Users can also create a customized profile for their own interests and needs.

CreditKarmaThis free credit-checking app for iPhone allows users to perform credit checks on the spot and track accounts over time. Since it’s free, the app is advertising-heavy, but its simple interface and repaid response make it useful for screening prospective tenants quickly.

BloombergAvailable for iPhone, iPad and Android in both free and paid forms, the Bloomberg app offers most of the features of the Bloomberg website. Users can read the latest business updates, listen to the site’s podcasts, and view trending financial and investing news.

WSJ House of the DayWall Street Journal’s House of the Day app for iPhone and Android showcases a new home every day, with details on architecture, furnishings and more. Homes on the site range from high-end mansions to newly renovated vintage homes, with plenty of images for inspiration and information.

Mobile apps make managing investments and rental issues easier and faster – but they aren’t without risks. Experts advise treating your mobile device like a computer: passwords protect it, shop for apps at recognized stores such as Amazon, and use secure connections for transactions. Bur for the investor building wealth in income property as Jason Hartman advises, mobile apps can save time and travel.

Mobile shopping is the new online shopping. As smartphones and tablets consume an ever-growing piece of the cyberspace consumer economy, it’s easier than ever to make the same kinds of transactions on the go as you would on a home computer. And, of course, that means that it’s also just as easy to fall prey to a variety of scams aimed at pirating identities and bank accounts.

Newer mobile devices make it possible to do an unprecedented range of financial business away from home. It’s possible to scan checks for deposit to a bank account, order and pay for goods from online merchants, and even accept cretin card payments for services rendered. But the very ease of doing business this way makes mobile transactions particularly vulnerable.

Use Trustworthy AppsMobile devices rely on apps, short for applications, that allow for connections to online locations. Although apps for online buying, banking and many other functions are available from a variety of sources, fraud experts recommend getting your mobile apps from recognized and trusted App Stores, such as Apple, Amazon or Google. Untrustworthy third party apps may not be secure, allowing for hacking or intercepting the data you’re sending.

Secure Your Device With PasswordsYou use passwords on your computer, so if you use your phone or tablet for financial transactions, it’s wise to set up password security on those devices too. It’s possible to set up several levels of password protection – for the device itself so no one but its owner has access, and for specific apps and data installed on the device. Although it may seem like a nuisance, establishing unique hard to hack passwords is a simple and cost free way to stay safe.

Use Secure ConnectionsWhile it’s easy to do a quick transaction over public WiFi in your favorite coffee house, experts warn that this is the easiest way for hackers to hijack your passwords and transaction information, including credit card numbers. When accessing websites from a mobile device, be sure that any site you send data to has a secure HTTPS connection, rather than the unsecured HTTP connection. That little S added to a site’s address ensures that data you send is only shared with the receiving device, while unsecured data can be picked up by other sources.

Mobile apps are making it easier than ever to do business wherever you go. But because mobile technology is still developing, it’s an area ripe for scams and theft. A few precautions and a little vigilance can go a long way toward protecting your finances – and stay in control of your investments.

Investing your money is a financial decision you want to have confidence in, and even more confidence in the person who is handling your money. There are several con artists targeting their prey on new investors, making it hard to detect a scam from a good opportunity. By following these seven financial decision tips and advice you will know what to look for and how to avoid an investment scam.

Check Credentials & Background. First off your broker should be a Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP) professional. You can verify the validity of his registration at www.cfp.net. Ask for reference checks for your protection. Background checks are completely acceptable and highly recommended when doing business with an investor. Verify their character and the way their operations are performed. You can always check up on your investment manager, requesting a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) Broker Check network, available online.

Seek Outside Resources. Several illegal investments are operated in their own broker-dealer firm so their clients’ investments and money remains solely in their hands. Reach out to other financial firms like a custodian who can help allay any concerns where the outside party can become responsible for key back-office operations, including execution and settlement of trades. Another valuable use of a custodian is the verification they hold on asset levels and returns.

Protect Your Nest. Brokers who want your money to remain with them for a while and advise you sit back to watch the opportunities roll in, might be sitting back and enjoying your money more than your investment. Always question where your money is and request written updates on the progress of your investment.

Appearance Means Nothing. Con artists appear just as qualified as true investment advisors, so take appearance off the list when narrowing down a good broker to trust. The individual may look successful in their nice clothes and Lexus, but that success might come from being a scam artist, not a broker. Do your homework; research their credentials to determine if their rich appearance is truly being generated from successful investments.

When in Doubt, Get Out. If you’re confident in the opportunity then be confident in the one handling your money. If you feel doubts in the advice or techniques of your broker, especially when they’re advising you hold off on pulling out profits or principal or wanting to “roll-over” non-existent profits into new and more alluring investments, then get out. There will be someone else who is open to your ideas and investment opportunities and more trusting to handle your money.

Just Say No. Just because the salesperson is making validating points, doesn’t mean they are true facts or real deals. You can always say no, especially if the salesperson is demanding a signature or money upfront. Request time to look things over and ask for their firm’s information to confirm the investment opportunity is registered with the Securities Division.

Pay the Firm, Not Your Advisor. Never write out a check or send cash directly to your advisor. Your payments should always be to the firm or fund of your investment.

As we stated earlier there are scam artists out there waiting for the right prey to attack, but with the help of these tips to avoid investment scams you will be able to steer away those con artists and invest your money in the right hands.

What’s a New Year without a list of resolutions aimed at doing things better than last year? Whether you’re resolving to lose weight, shape up or abolish a bad habit or two, a few investing resolutions just might make 2014 a more prosperous year. Inspired by Jason Hartman’s 10 Commandments of Real Estate Investing, here are a few to consider.

1. Become Better EducatedResolve to become a more savvy investor in 2014 by learning more about investing in general and your investments in particular. That way you’re more able to make smart decisions and identify questionable advice and advisors. Investing knowledge can be acquired through courses, research or sharing with other investors, often for free.

2. Take Control of Your InvestmentsMake the decision to invest directly – and retain all the decision making power where your investments are concerned. The confidence to do this comes largely from Resolution Number One: become better educated about the investing process so you’ll be able to make good decision without resorting to an array of managers, advisors and partners. Keep investing in your own hands whenever possible.

3. Explore DiversificationWhether you’re a seasoned investor or just starting out, explore ways to diversify your holdings and spread investments over as many areas as possible. That helps minimize risks and maximize returns, especially if markets suffer a downturn. Getting your eggs out of that single basket and considering all possible opportunities can keep your investing career afloat fro the long term.

4. Leverage Debt EfficientlyExplore ways to put other people’s money to work for you. Funding investments with borrowed money can protect personal finances and reduce risk. Financing and refinancing investment properties can also help protect owners from legal issues and create eligibility for a variety of tax breaks.

5. Learn to Love TaxesAs Jason Hartman says, real estate is a highly tax favored asset, and property owners are eligible for a long list of deductions and exemptions that can help investors accumulate wealth. While you’re putting Resolution Number One into practice, take time to learn about taxes — in some ways, they can be an investor’s best friend.

Resolutions are always made with the best of intentions. But while that treadmill you got for Christmas may be gathering dust by March, the investing resolutions you make could keep paying off all year long.

The HOA (Homeowners Association) is considered a non-profit entity organized to maintain the integrity and value of a particular community, not to mention their collection to monthly or annual dues. However the primary purpose of this organization is to comfort their community by addressing all matters and making adjustments to resident concerns. Most likely an HOA neighborhood requires membership for all homeowners, without the choice to decline these services or payments. However, not all investors or tenants view HOA as a good idea, therefore we came up with a list of a few pros and cons of HOA to let you decide what’s more important to your investment and residence.

Pros: Services - Many HOAs provide services to community members, such as lawn care, street sweeping and trash pick-up. These are all jobs you won’t have to consider hiring a third party to do or find time to do yourself.

Maintenance - HOAs are in control of maintaining all common areas within the neighborhood, including lawns, tennis courts and swimming pools. Every member in the HOA attempts the cleanliness of their community.

Maintenance – The benefits from daily and monthly maintenance helps keep a community attractive and welcoming, while maintaining the property values. For instance HOAs might not allow signs in the front yard, or limit the amount of cars in a driveway, all adding up to to the beauty of the neighborhood.

Mediation – Mediation is needed on several occasions when neighbors have a dispute and when an HOA steps in to help the differences are easier to resolve. This helps cut hard feelings and future altercations with neighbors because the blame is taken away from the neighbor and rests on the HOA rules.

Cons:

Meddling - When you’re particular about your lawn or how many trees you wanted planted in your yard, HOA can be a little stickler on allowing you those options.

Additional Payments - HOAs are operated on the funds provided by its own members (tenants). These fees can add up to your monthly mortgage/rent. Keep in mind these fees often increase over years.

Board Rules - Some HOA neighborhoods require you to have any potential buyer or occupant screened and approved by the board of directors, prior to selling or leasing them your home.

Management - HOA boards of directors are typically volunteers who don’t always have the time to oversee HOA concerns, often hiring a management company to help with the day-to-day issues. This can cause a headache if you’re not comfortable or willing to work with an outside management company with no personal ties to the neighborhood.

Whether you decide to invest or move into an HOA community or in a neighborhood with no restrictions, know exactly what to expect before purchasing or renting a property and be ready for the additional fees.

At least we know how to benefit from this mess rather than get burned like virtually everybody else…

One of the positions of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul that mainstream pundits find “wacky” is his call to abolish the Federal Reserve System. Never mind that two Nobel Prize-winning economists — both libertarians — called for the same thing.

And never mind that the Fed is the entity directly responsible for the debasement of the dollar over the many decades since the Fed was established.

Both Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek called for the abolition of the Fed during their careers. While Friedman spent much of his life advocating externally imposed constraints on the Fed’s power to expand the money supply, his first wish was to have the Fed abolished, as he pointed out in a 1995 Reason magazine interview. In his book Denationalisation of Money: An Analysis of the Theory and Practise of Concurrent Currencies, Hayek advocated a free-market monetary system of competing currencies.

Most Americans probably still believe that the Great Depression was caused by “the failure of the free-enterprise system.” It is a false belief. The truth is that the worst economic disaster in American history was caused by the Federal Reserve. Give current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke credit for publicly acknowledging that fact in a speech delivered in 2002 commemorating Friedman’s 90th birthday.

Throughout the ages, the favorite political trick for public officials has been to dole out “free benefits” to the citizenry and engage in expensive foreign military adventures without raising taxes. To accomplish this feat, they have simply resorted to the printing press to get the money to pay for the “free benefits” and the military adventures. As more money was printed, its value would drop, which would be reflected in rising prices for the things that money buys. As prices rose, people would blame speculators, capitalists, price-gougers, and profiteers, never suspecting that their public officials were behind the scam.

That’s what the Fed has been doing for decades — accommodating ever-increasing government expenditures by printing the money to pay for them. That’s why the value of the dollar has been plummeting ever since the 1930s. It’s also why U.S. coins are now made of cheap alloys rather than of gold and silver. As the value of precious metals rose in response to an ever-depreciating currency, the value of the precious metals in coins became greater than the face value of the coins, encouraging people to hoard the coins or even melt them down for the metal. That’s what Gresham’s Law in economics is all about — that bad money (i.e., depreciating money) inevitably drives good money out of circulation.

For decades, U.S. officials made it a felony offense for Americans to own gold. Why did they do that? To prevent Americans from protecting themselves from a constantly depreciating currency. Equally important, the price of gold has always been an easy way to gauge what politicians are doing to the money. They have never liked that.

What the Fed has done to our money over the decades should not surprise anyone. After all, the Federal Reserve is nothing more than a central-planning agency in the classic socialist mold. Just like the central-planning boards in the Soviet Union and communist China, the Fed is composed of a central board of bureaucratic appointees planning, in a top-down fashion, complex monetary matters affecting millions of economic participants under constantly changing conditions. Given the inherent defects of socialist central planning, why would anyone expect anything but bad and perverse results from monetary central planning?

As Friedman and Hayek and other free-market economists (most notably Ludwig von Mises) pointed out, the Federal Reserve is the prime destroyer of currency and, therefore, one of the greatest threats to the freedom and well-being of a citizenry. As the monetary crisis facing our country continues to worsen, it’s important that we keep in mind that there is only one long-term solution — the one advocated by people such as Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul and Nobel Laureates Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek: Abolish the Fed.

Do you have what it takes to be a successful investor? There’s no shortage of guides attempting to define those key characteristics and behaviors that separate successful investors – those who build the financial future of their dreams – from those who never quite get there. Investing is a kind of entrepreneurship, and the key qualities of a successful entrepreneur in any field dovetail nicely with Jason Hartman’s 10 Commandments for Investors to define what’s most important for running your own venture.

Willingness to Be Open and CuriousEntrepreneurs of any kind are interested in new opportunities and new avenues to explore. The familiar and tried and true don’t interest them. Curiosity drives them to see if they can do more, break new ground, or experience a new situation. The “what-if” question is the most important: what would happen if I . . .

Willingness to Take RisksA willingness to take risks – in some measure – is important to entrepreneurial success. That doesn’t mean behaving irresponsibly, but it does mean being able to accept the uncertainty of the outcome. Real estate investing involves some risks, but using “other peoole’s money” in the form of mortgages and refinancing, as Jason advise, minimizes that risk in a way that other kinds of investments don’t do.

Willingness to LearnIf you’re content to stick with what you know, entrepreneurship may not be for you. Venturing into the unknown means finding out what you don’t know as well as what you do know – and figuring out what you have to do to get the knowledge you need. One of Jason’s first commandments tells investors to get educated – learn about investing, your market, and any other skills you may need.

Willingness to ListenA key part of all this is listening – talking with experts in relevant fields and hearing what they have to say. As Jason points out, finding good advisers and following their recommendations can prevent ill-advised risks and give new investors some expert support for a shorter learning curve than going it alone.

Willingness to Take ControlAlthough it may be tempting to leave your investments – or your new business – in the hands of advisers, brokers or other experts, that puts a new investor at the mercy of others. A major reason for learning and listening is to be able to evaluate advice and make successful investing decisions – and to dump incompetent or unethical financial experts or other professionals if they aren’t getting the job done.

There’s no one-size fits all profile of a successful entrepreneur in any field, and the true key to success is having the desire and the discipline to make an endeavor work. But to build wealth through income property, a willingness to follow Jason Hartman’s recommendations is a good first step.