Make Love with Your Money

You are a creator of our world. Your retirement dollars are invested in the corporations that define our existence. When you realize the power of your money and investments as tools to make you rich and to also enrich our world, you will start aligning yourself with other creative and motivated people who are invested in your success, the success of the companies you choose to support with your investment dollars and the world at large.nnThat is why I use such a provocative title for this foreword -- Make Love with Your Money. I am touching pleasure points in your brain when I talk about money intentionally -- to spark your endorphins. Most people still believe the old myths about money, and they carry around a lot of anger, worry, doubt, fear and loathing about wealth. "Why is that person rich? I'd make a much better rich person! I'm the one who deserves to be rich. Why wasn't I born as lucky as her?"nnBeing the CEO of Your Own Successn nWhat does any of this have to do with trading stocks? Once you come to understand that you are, right now, the creator of your world -- your home, your neighborhood and by the money you invest in your retirement plan, even the world at large -- you will start thinking like a rich person instead of a victim. Victims fear money, worry about money, think that they are owed money, think they deserve money more than the next guy, and spend all their time gambling or trying to win the lottery, instead of embracing healthy money habits that lead to lasting wealth.nnToo many people have fear around money. I call it "investing with stomach acid" instead of your intellect. When you trade with fear, the odds are that you will buy high and sell low. That is what fear does, even though it is the exact opposite thing that everyone knows with their brain to do.nnBelieving you have to make money fast before the world ends or the bank takes back your home is the kind of vulnerability that scam artists and shysters feed upon. When you secretly believe that you are going to lose money on your investments, you don't drink in the education and research you need in order to make a successful purchase in the first place. When you make wise, informed investments in companies that you believe are creating the best products and services on the planet, then you believe that you are going to make a fortune in the markets, not that you are going to lose.When you invest in what you know and love, your wisdom as a shopper and your passion about the product will immobilize fear, and that's when you can really start making confident and correct choices that will payoff for you. You know how to place a value on what you own and are less likely to sell it on the cheap. Imagine now how it would feel to own Google at the Initial Public Offering (IPO). Or Microsoft. Or Suntech Power Holdings (a solar energy manufacturer). Or Starbucks. Or Toyota.nnBecome The Best Youn nSome authors make investing too complicated. Others make it too boring. Some have cookie-cutter investment strategies, like cutting out coffee or using fancy software, that frankly don't work because no two people have the same talents, passions, goals, time or intelligence. I am asking you to think about the power of your money to transform and enrich your own life and the world at large and to apply my strategies to become the best you. My investment recipe works because you supply the ingredients. The Billionaire Game works because you decide what's charity, what's education, what's fun and what to invest in, and the fact that you are invested in achieving your own success -- instead of relying on someone else to do it or drowning in basic needs -- is the fuel that drives prosperity.nnChoosing Faith Over FearnnIt's not that hard to switch your thinking from fear that you're going to lose everything to faith that you can become wise and rich. It's not more time spent. If you think of all the time you spend worrying about money, you know that getting smart about investing is actually going to take less time. Becoming a successful investor who earns gains while you sleep costs less than being a fear-based investor who loses money every time the economy hits a recession. It's simply investing the same money you put in your 401(k) or IRA more effectively.nnIf you can shop, you can pick stocks. If you tithe, you can become a millionaire. If you can pick a great life partner, then you can select the second most important person in your life: your certified financial planner. If you know your age, then you know what percent of your retirement plan you should keep safe, i.e. not invested in stocks. Once you discover how the dollars you invest create our world, you can start investing in the products, goods and services that will make our planet a great place to live.nnHow would you live if you had all the money in the world? What companies would you invest in? The beauty of the stock market is that with very little money, you can create that life now. You can become not just a rich person and a great investor, but someone who does all that by putting her money where her heart is -- by making love with money. When people start investing with heart and soul and wisdom, instead of fear, blind faith and greed, this world will become a very, very beautiful place. There is no end to the problems that can be solved when we move trillions out of the old industries of oil, gas and cigarettes and invest it in clean energy, goods and services that contribute to a healthy, sustainable world.nnMake Love With Your MoneynnThat is how I went from a Copper Miner's Daughter to Wall Street Golden Girl; it's how I went from Divorced and Desperate to my dream-come-true life. When you start investing in things that you know and love, instead of with fear and greed, your life will change immediately, and this world will become a much more beautiful place. A life like this increases in value every single day and becomes more valuable not just to you but to those around you as well.nnThe above excerpt is a digitally scanned reproduction of text from print. Although this excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.nnThe above is an excerpt from the book Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is by Natalie PacenPublished by Vanguard Press; December 2008;$24.95US/$26.95CAN; 978-159315-491-2nCopyright © 2008 Natalie Pace