I thought you might like a bit of a read through some excerpts from the book; A History of Money by Glyn Davies.

The book runs from 9000BC to the present day discussing the story of the History of Money.

This little excerpt starts in 1934 with the “US Silver Purchase Act”.
The Act obliges the government to buy large quantities of silver. This raises its price in world markets to such an extent that China is forced off its silver standard and many other countries demonetize their silver currencies. Thus in the long run the Act reduces the demand for silver, contrary to the intention of its supporters.

*1934 German Banking Act* This establishes a national Banking Supervisory Board authorized to license every bank.

*1935 – c.1970* Continuous moderate inflation in Britain The general level of prices rises every year but at a moderate rate.

*1935 US Banking Act* The changes this makes in the Federal Reserve System have the effect of shifting power away from New York and the Federal Reserve Districts towards Washington.

1935 Reserve Bank of India begins operations India’s central bank is modelled on the Bank of England. c. 1935 Cowries still used as money in Nigeria.

*1936 France abandons the gold standard* The French government’s policy of a strong franc is undermined by competitive devaluation.

After abandoning the gold standard France continues to be the centre of a Franc bloc including most of the non-German European countries south of Scandinavia until the Second World War.

*1936 Tripartite Agreement* between Britain, France and the US on exchange rates The aim of the agreement is to stabilize exchange rates. It falls apart with the advent of the Second World War

So, some interesting times I’ll probably post more at some stage so subscribe and don’t miss a thing.

Financial planning involves making the best use of resources to ensure income, financial growth and security. It may involve risk management and insurance, investment, taxation, retirement and estate planning issues.

A financial adviser can help you make money and maintain or improve your lifestyle with a sound financial plan. This will include helping you to avoid pitfalls, using your money to best advantage, and choosing products that suit your needs. A financial adviser will also help you understand risk, so you can assess what the best options are for you.

If you are planning for your retirement, have received a lump sum of money or have just left the workforce, or you simply want to make the best use of your money, then you should contact a financial adviser.

Talking to a financial adviser will

• help you make more informed decisions about your money
• help you use your money to best advantage, and
• help you choose products that suit your needs

To discuss your financial options and find out how we can assist you, simply fill out our online enquiry form and we will be in contact with you within one business day.

The New Zealand share market rose yesterday as Telecom resumed its rally however The New Zealand dollar failed to push higher against a broadly weaker greenback overnight, as stocks rallied strongly in the United States amid hopes the worst of the global economic crisis could be over and Oil fell below US$53 a barrel, paring some of the 4 percent gains chalked up in the previous session.

The Government is upping the amount of money it is raising from the sale of bonds in the current financial year by $1 billion and is signalling the sale of more longer-dated bonds.

We certainly live in interesting times.

What are you doing to make sure you have enough for your retirement?

Visit us at Professional Investment Services for a free assessment of your current strategy, if we can help you we will let you know, if we can’t it will be nice to have that second opinion that your current strategy is working for you.

Well it’s been another week and lots has happened.

Interest rates have started going up….Whats with that you are probably saying. Well that’s the banks for you.

The share markets have started to rally and already there are people saying the bears are dead and it’s a bull run again…whats up with that you might be asking. That’s the share market for you

Property is being described in the media as being back at affordable levels and now it the time to buy….whats up with that you say? Thats property for you

So has it been a good week? It sure has. It has been one of those weeks that demonstrate how polarised each of the markets I deal in can be.

In each market there are the people who absolutely pull everything down and are always negative and then there are the people who even if there house was on fire they would be trying to tell you its a good time to buy matches.

So what should you do?

I recommend in this market that it is even more vital for you to see a qualified financial planner and sit down with them to work out firstly where you want to be financially. If they are selling you anything at this stage….start running.

The initial meeting with a planner should cost you nothing and should be about trying to see if they can help you achieve your goals, in other words the meeting should be about you and your situation not what the planner has for sale.

Today I spent nearly 2 hours talking with a gentleman about his financial plans.
We discussed lots of things and it was apparent that he had been to see other advisers but it was also apparent that he was very surprised that I was not trying to sell him anything and that I wanted to know more about his hobbies and what his plans for retirement were than I did in how much money he had to spend today.

Financial Planning is exactly that. Planning, it’s not Financial Selling of Financial Marketing its Financial Planning. So see someone who will help you plan.

The last few days have been extremely busy.

Yes it was the weekend however I was working on ways that will help you make money and create wealth for your retirement.

I am more and more convinced that we need to develop alternative methods to creating retirement income streams and I believe the internet is by far the easiest way to do that.

If you check out the sites www.2easy.co.nz and another one www.2pros.biz you will see that these sites allow you to try lots of different products and services that teach you how to make money on the web.

One of the key things that every marketer stresses is the fact that you need to figure out a niche that you can market too.

Everything else is incredibly easy.

Essential Internet Tools for example can help you to purchase your first domain name for next to nothing (you must have a domain name, it’s like the piece of land your internet shop will sit on) if you want to go global or you can try  Low Cost Domains if you want to focus on a New Zealand market (at $29 per annum they are one of the cheapest).

Once you have a domain name you need to create a website and this is so simple these days that it’s not funny. Website Tonight is a cost effective way to get your first website up and running in only a few minutes. Yes you will have to go back and add some content but you can be on the World Wide Web in minutes using this service and less than $5 per month I can’t see why you wouldn’t do it.

So that’s the first step and if you are not technically inclined you can always Joint Venture with me, this is where you provide certain content about a topic that you know alot about and you are happy to research and write about. I build and maintain the website as well as creating the various opportunities to make money from the site. We then share the profits 50/50

Remember when creating wealth on the web it’s not about getting rich overnight. It’s about building a solid business over a year or so. Sure that doesn’t sound terribly exciting but I can assure you that when you are recieving $1000 per week from the money making machine you helped create you will be incredibly happy and it’s an investment that is a lot easier to create than the traditional methods of wealth creation.

It seems homes are the most affordable they have been in four years but they
are still unaffordable for many and tightening lending criteria by banks isn’t
helping.

This is the conclusion of the December Home Loan
Affordability report from financial information website
www.interest.co.nz, released as banks slash mortgage rates further.

To own the median home (by house price) you will now need 59.6 per cent of the average after tax income to service the mortgage. This is down from 63.8 per cent in November.

This is the best it has been in four years.

Most lenders like to see the amount of money committed to a home loan as being less than 40% of the combined household income before tax, so this new affordabilty level should see many new kiwi’s able to own their own home.

The improvement in December was created largely by lower interest rates after the Reserve Bank reduced the OCR by 150 basis points. Most commentators expect the reserve bank to
cut the OCR another 100 basis points to 4 per cent on January 29.

Tighter credit criteria and demands for higher deposits will most likely prevent a rebound in the housing market in the near future however this opens a world of opportunities for people looking to invest into real estate.

Professional Investment Services (powered by Financial Gain) as you know, is owned by myself, I also own Hot Property Investmentments and Go Realty which provide services for people wanting to invest or sell real estate. The latter two companies provide options for people to invest outside of the constraints of a financial planning strategy.

The lower interest rates also provide a fantastic opportunity for people to take stock of their current home loans and perhaps break existing fixed loans to get cheaper interest rates or lock in at some of the great low rates for longer terms. At LOANZ Limited we are able to help you establish if breaking your loan is a feasible option, visit us at www.loanzlimited.com

As the financial turmoil that has hit the world prevents others from acting, Professional Investment Services believes it is a fantastic time to set yourself up for retirement with prudent planning and careful investing.

I also believe it is a time where a carefully planned property investment will help you achieve your long term financial goals in an easier and more efficient manner.

It’s been a while since my last blog but that’s because I have been pretty busy with trying lots of different ideas for making money online or in other words creating some more money magnets.

So far I recommend two really easy ones. These probably won’t make you a fortune in a hurry but the idea is that they will gradually build over time and there is not a lot that you need to do.

My first foray into a business online is as a reseller. This is real easy as everything is done for you except choosing your pricing and perhaps the colors of your pre-designed website.

So for a couple of hundred dollars a year you can have an online business that grows every year and creates a residual income as domains etc need to be renewed each year.

Try this reseller program it’s created by the worlds biggest registrar which makes life real easy…

www.essentialinternettools.com

The other great opportunity I have come across is an extension of the New Skin business. This is different however as in this one you don’t actually need to sell anything.

That’s right you don’t need to sell anything, you just need to give away free websites and as people use the site they will buy products (I have made photo books, had pictures printed and calendars) and the products are great.

So pop across to here to get your free account and see what I’m talking about.

If you want to become a distributor it costs less than a $1000 in NZ and you can start to build a trailing income for life. Remember give away a free website and you have customer number 1….how many do you think you could give away.

What constitutes a money magnet?

My definition is something that you do or a resource that you own that draws more money to you.

Like all magnets though a money magnet can also repel money from you…..so do be careful.

One of my countries favorite money magnets is Real estate.

This is a classic magnet in that when you own Real Estate you can sense the money, the wealth being drawn to you.
Just like a typical magnet though Real Estate can pretty quickly push money away from you.

If you own Real estate you know how good it can be. You hear the stories of people buying property for $100,000 and selling it for twice that a year or so later.

Your dad tells you about when he could have bought the bit of land down by the beach thirty years ago for $30,000.

We hear all these stories and yet I am sure there are a lot of people right now who wish they have never invested in Real Estate.

Recently a financial planning colleague of mine told me that in the US right now there are 8 million properties that are worth less than the loans that are outstanding on them.

That is incredible.

How does that help a money magnet entrepreneur though.

If you look back through history you will see that Real Estate continues to grow in value, and it will do this again. The smart people are already out looking to purchase more right now.

I have tried to buy 2 new properties over the last week and succeeded in getting one.

Its a great time to buy.

Do be careful however.

My tips for buying in this market are to firstly visit a good mortgage broker and find out exactly how much you can borrow.
Get yourself a pre-approval and maybe even organise a 20% deposit against your home via a line of credit.

When you enter into the bargaining you can now bargain with the best chips possible. You can provide a large deposit and offer cash unconditional.

Using the above technique I often purchase property for up to 30% to 40% under its value and I can get the vendor to give me favorable terms like a long settlement, allowing me to re-list the property before I have to settle on it.

Make sure the property is one that if you do not sell it again works out to be a fantastic long term investment as well.

So thats a pretty simple way of making some great money from one of the worlds best money magnets.

cheers

TP
www.nzpis.com
www.hotpropertyinvestments.co.nz
www.handbags.co.nz
www.sportswear.co.nz
www.moisture.co.nz