Fifty Shades Of Green

By Gary Zino

Fifty Shades of Green outlines fifty critical financial issues that each American family faces as they take journey toward financial freedom. Whether you are just starting your working career or looking to protect and manage your nest egg, these issues will touch you at some point along the way, and how you address each one will impact your chances for financial success. Surveys indicate that most American families do not have an adequate plan in place to grow and manage their assets and this book can provide a much needed roadmap.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gary Zino
• Release date: Dec 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311476135

Gary Zino

Gary Zino is a nationally recognized public speaker and sales trainer with over thirty years experience in the financial services industry. He has held senior management positions with several wealth management organizations. Fifty Shades of Green was born as one of his many financial presentations and the overwhelming public response led him to publish the information in book form. Gary can be reached through his website: www.garyzino.com.

Book preview

Fifty Shades of Green

MONEY!

We dream about it. If I had more money I could…

We follow the money in order to solve crimes.

We make it part of our national political discourse. Does having too much of it make one unfit to be President? We talk about the makers versus the takers.

Most of all, though, we worry about it. Do I have enough now? Will I have enough later on when I retire? How much is enough? If I have enough, how can I keep it? How can I manage it effectively? A new Pew Research Center survey reports that nearly 40% of Americans are not confident that they will have the financial wherewithal to retire. Americans are now more worried about having enough money to retire than they were at the end of the Great Recession in 2009.

Too many Americans have a negative perspective about money, and many excuses for why they aren’t financially successful. Much of the financial advice we get can seem inapplicable or includes what seems like impossible goals. If you’re living paycheck to paycheck, it seems unlikely that you can pay off debt or save for retirement.

Despite all our worry and obsession about money it is indeed possible to make wise and appropriate decisions about how to accumulate and manage wealth. We simply need a reminder about what we already know about money and seek guidance on what we need to learn about it. What follows, here, is not a how to about money matters, but a what to. What questions to ask yourself and to ask your advisors. What issues to sort through to get a better handle on how we spend, save and invest.

If you read, digest and commit to the 50 money issues outlined here you will certainly increase your chances of achieving financial success and wealth. What is more important, once you have adopted these ideas to your own unique circumstances you will be able to worry less about your money. I have found that the success most people enjoy is despite their worry, not because of it. If you decrease your worry quotient, you can focus your energy on more productive things that bring more joy and fulfillment to your life.

Spoiler Alert: This is not a novel. It doesn’t build to a climax. You do not have to read it from beginning to the end to find satisfaction. You can use this as a reference, and sift through those issues that seem most interesting or relevant to you. The fifty issues are not presented in any particular order, neither by priority or chronologically. You will find that some of them are interrelated. You may learn new things or simply be reminded of what you already know but may have forgotten. If you say, I already knew that but haven’t taken action, use this as a reminder. There may be issues that you’re seeking answers to, but find they’re not here. If that’s the case, there is certainly no scarcity of financial tomes out there for you to pick up. Or, you can wait for my sequel.

1. Beware the Wealth Deception

Wealth is defined as the state of having strong financial resources. That is rather vague. How much do you need in order to be wealthy? Simply put, you need to have significantly more assets than liabilities. Wealth can come from many different sources. You might win the lottery or inherit it. You might marry into it. Most wealth, however, is self-made wealth, coming from people who built their wealth with their own hands. It is built slowly over time and with hard work, persistence and passion. Often this kind of wealth is hard to see. It is owned by people who don’t talk about it. They live relatively modestly and don’t flaunt it. These people don’t usually grace the cover of People magazine. They may even live next door to you and you’d be unaware of it. They may not own fancy cars or private jets and usually pay cash, avoiding large mortgages and car payments. Most importantly, they live within their means. I guess you can either look rich or be rich. The choice is yours. Many people attach their self-esteem to their net worth and in doing so ruin their chance to have a happy and peaceful life.

It is important to note that just because somebody makes a lot of money doesn’t mean they are rich. If their expenses equal or exceed their income, they do not qualify as wealthy. If someone works hard, has a great income and has nice things, we may assume he or she is wealthy. It may well be all show and we simply are not aware of how much debt they’re carrying. These people may seem rich but they never learned the habits necessary to build great wealth. Dave Ramsey, noted financial guru, sums it up this way: "Financial peace isn’t the acquisition of stuff, it’s learning to live on less