Your Money and You: How to Increase Your Chances for Financial Success

By Deborah W. Ellis

Your Money and You makes it all about you—your wants and needs, and how you can achieve your financial goals. Author Deborah W. Ellis shares her personal stories—learning about investing from her aunt, her investing mistakes and successes, and her years of experience as a certified financial planner. Most importantly, she'll help you discover your beliefs and values about money so you can comfortably and knowledgably take on a leadership role in handling your own finances.

Step by step, you'll be taught how to:
• Take a financial inventory of your current situation
• Create a saving and spending plan that accurately reflects what you spend
• Understand the wonders of compound interest
• Become knowledgeable about stock exchanges and market indices
• Mitigate risk through asset allocation and portfolio diversification
• Find money in new places you never considered
• Think long-term about investing and retiring
• Hire the right financial advisor and other team members to help achieve your goals

It's never too late—or too early—to take control of your money and make it work for you so you don't have to work so hard. Let Your Money and You provide you with the answers you seek!

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Dec 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543954210

Book preview

What People Are Saying About Deborah W. Ellis

and

Your Money and You

"In Your Money and You, Deborah Ellis shows you that if you were smart enough to graduate from fifth grade, you’re smart enough to figure out stocks, bonds, and everything else there is to know about investing so you can create the destiny you’ve always wanted."

—Patrick Snow, Publishing Coach and International Best-Selling Author of Creating Your Own Destiny and Boy Entrepreneur

"Deborah Ellis’ Your Money and You is packed with truths about investing—its risks and rewards—along with her personal experiences both as an investor and a wealth advisor. Whether you’re just learning how to save for tomorrow or about to retire, you’ll find helpful and powerful information in these pages."

—Nicole Gabriel, MBA and Author of Finding Your Inner Truth and Stepping Into Your Becoming

"Deborah Ellis gives practical advice and life-changing insight into investing in Your Money and You. Ultimately, it is all about you, and everything you need to know about stocks, bonds, IRAs, and much, much more is in these pages. Get this book and get ready to change your financial life."

—Tyler R. Tichelaar, PhD and Award-Winning Author of Narrow Lives and The Best Place

"This is an excellent book for those who are interested in getting a decent handle on the management of their investments in today’s market. It is informative, well organized, and presented with an outstanding touch of humor and facts. I recommend Your Money and You to all who want to learn about the financial markets."

—Barbara K. Michaels, Educator and Retailer

From the moment I met Deborah, I knew she wasn’t your typical financial services representative. She wasn’t sales-driven like most Financial Advisors—she had no interests in meeting sales goals or winning incentive trips. What she really cared about were her clients and their goals—putting their interests first at all costs. She also had a knack for making the complex seem simple—a quality that really shines through in this book. Deborah is truly an advocate of the people she serves, and I’m proud to call her a colleague.

—Kristopher L. Schnell, CRPC, President Cogent Independent Advisors, Inc., Investment Advisor Representative

Deborah Ellis has a knack for making the difficult, easy to understand. As an educator, I know the importance of knowing that your students can take what you teach and apply it in the real world. Bingo, Deborah! You’re a master teacher.

—Margie Clebanoff, Educator

"Deborah Ellis’ Your Money and You is a wonderful book, for people just starting out who might be terrified of stocks and bonds and all the other scary creatures lurking in the financial forest. Highly recommended!"

— David Mellon, Author of Silent

"In Your Money and You, Deborah provides a road map for identifying your personal financial goals and concrete and easy-to-follow steps to take toward achieving them. Whether you are an experienced investor or just getting started with investing, this book is filled with wisdom and tools to move you toward actualizing your financial goals and dreams."

— Anand K McManus, Realtor Keller Williams Realty, Durango, Colorado

Deborah Ellis’ book is insightful, helpful, and to the point! It will give you the straightforward financial and investing information you will need for a happy and comfortable retirement. Even with a plan in place, we have much better insight into investments that will help us make the right decisions going forward.

— Julia Cantu, Apriori Beauty, www.useloveshare.com/JuliaCantu

"Deborah Ellis’ book Your Money and You is a must read for any entrepreneur. I wish this book had been available to me twenty years ago. My business was very successful, but I never knew I could invest outside of my business. I didn’t realize I could build up personal wealth and build a business so that whatever happened with my business I still had a nest egg and personal wealth. Now, I put profits back into my business, and I have started investing in other assets, too. Deborah’s book explains so many concepts and ideas an investor needs to understand to be successful! If you own your own business, have an income that is inconsistent, or just want to know more about investing and the stock market, read Your Money and You."

— Eric Lofholm, Master Sales Trainer and Author of The System and Sales Scripting Mastery

If you are new to investing, or if you are investing but know little about it, Deborah’s book is filled with stories and information to provide a strong overview and framework for understanding many of the nuances of the financial world. My accounting background finally got the lift it needed by reading this book.

— Genise R. Reiter, Esq., Reiter Dye & Brennan, LLP

"Deborah Ellis will help your investments sparkle and grow with her practical yet powerful advice in Your Money and You. This book will help you build a whole new, life-giving relationship with money. Sharing life-altering insights, examples, and personal stories, she guides you to create a financial future you love with ease and grace!"

—Sherri Nickols, Women’s Empowerment Coach and Award-Winning Author of Sexy and Sparkling After 40

Ellis’ book is just what I needed to understand today’s complex world of finance and money management. I will share this valuable guide with my family and friends, all of whom could benefit from the author’s clear and compelling overview of today’s financial world.

— Gayle Young M.P.H.

There is no greater proof that Deborah Ellis knows what she is talking about when it comes to money, wealth, and financial security than this book. I recommend it to anyone wanting to educate themselves on the workings of investing and financial literacy.

—James Connolly, CTO of CEO Chef Consulting and Author of Creating Leaders to Building Teams

"It’s difficult to plan for the future without an understanding of where you stand today. This means identifying and prioritizing your needs, assessing your tolerance for risk, and understanding what impacts your current financial portfolio—things like income, expenses, and any savings.

"After determining where you are today, the next step is identifying where you’d like to be. What does your vision for the future look like? What are you trying to accomplish?

"Deborah Ellis’ book Your Money and You gives you information and the tools to translate your vision into a personal, measurable goal and to develop a written strategy to track your progress.

"You know where you stand, what you want to do in the future, and how much risk you’re comfortable taking to get there. Your Money and You can now help you answer the big question Can I get there? By reading and studying this book, you’ll analyze what you’re currently doing and decide any adjustments you need to make to better position yourself to achieve your goals."

— Dr. Renee Michelle Gordon, International Speaker, Author of Finding Your Love at Last, Love and Relationship Expert,

Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, and Investor

This is an average person’s guide to understanding the mechanics and principles of investing. This is something that has been long awaited, and Deborah W. Ellis has done a thorough job of explaining it.

— Dr. Michael Gross, Transformational Coach, Spiritual Coach, Life Coach, International Speaker, Multi-Dimension Healer, and Author of The Spiritual Primer

Deborah certainly helped us focus in on the important areas we needed to pay attention to while planning for retirement.

— Jim and Cindi Jurgensmeier, Semi-Retired

Your Money and You

How to Increase Your Chances of Achieving Financial Security

Copyright © 2018 Deborah W. Ellis

Published by:

Aviva Publishing

Lake Placid, New York 518.523.1320

www.AvivaPubs.com

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the expressed written permission of Deborah W. Ellis.

805.585.5424

deb@DeborahWEllis

DeborahWEllis.com

ISBN: 978-1-947937-18-5

eISBN: 978-1-543954-21-0

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017919649

Editor: Tyler Tichelaar/Superior Book Productions Cover Designer: Nicole Gabriel/Angel Dog Productions

Interior Book Layout: Nicole Gabriel/Angel Dog Productions Author Photo: Eugene Photography

Every attempt has been made to source properly all quotes. Printed in the United States of America

First Edition

For my aunt, Mona Weis,

Who instilled a love of investing and learning in me and taught

me the basics of investing in equities.

For my husband, Bruce Ellis,

For his love and patience and for providing the family I always

craved. When I am with him, I am my best self.

For my mother, Dori Ahakuelo, and my father, Don Weis,

without whom I would not be who I am today.

For my sister, Pamela Landrum,

who motivates and inspires me.

For all my clients,

from whom I have learned as much as I have taught.

And for you, dear reader,

May this book help you by shedding some light on a complex

subject.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I’d like to acknowledge the following people for their help in creating this book. It was a team effort, and each of those included made a significant contribution:

Mona Weis, Bruce Ellis, Don Weis, Dori Akahuelo, Pam Landrum, Renee Gordon Connolly, Dianne Cooper-Byram, PhD, Dennis Dreier, Linda Ann Barr, Eric Lofholm, Randy Larkin, Barbara Michaels, Michael Gross, L. Wayne Gertmenian, PhD, Danny Simon, Walter Annenberg, Dan J. Disimile, CFP, Laura L. W. Fisher, and Dr. Adelaide Randak.

A special thank you to Kris Schnell, President of Cogent Independent Advisors; my writing coach, Patrick Snow; my business coach, Jim Connolly; my editor, Tyler Tichelaar; and my cover and interior designer, Nicole Gabriel. These five were, each in his or her own capacity, instrumental in moving this book from a vision to a reality.

CONTENTS

FIGURES

IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES

S&P® 500 Copyright S&P® Dow Jones Indices LLC, a division of S&P® Global.

Dow Jones Industrial Average Copyright S&P®

Dow Jones Indices LLC, a division of S&P® Global.

Russell 2000 index is maintained by FTSE Russell, a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group.

Data for charts from MacroTrends data download

Financial Planning and Investment Advisory Services provided by Cogent Independent Advisors (Cogent), a Registered Investment Advisor. Nothing in this book constitutes a solicitation to buy or sell any security. Cogent can only do business with clients domiciled in states where authorized or exempt from authorization. Investments are not guaranteed, not backed by a bank, and may lose value. Deborah W. Ellis is an Investment Advisor Representative. Cogent and Deborah W. Ellis are neither tax nor legal advisors. Consult your tax or legal advisor.

If you let it, you will be surprised at how money attracts money.

— Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich

INTRODUCTION

One of the very nice things about investing in the stock market is that you learn about all different aspects of the economy. It’s your window into a very large world.

— Ron Chernow

Are you interested in achieving a greater sense of financial security?

If so, you may already know something about finance, money, and the economy, or you might be just starting out. Either way, a better understanding of certain concepts and practices can help you have more confidence in your choices.

Since I started investing over thirty years ago, the financial world has become much more complex. Before the internet, trading in the market was not for the average person. It was quite a different environment from what we find now. I believe that today the stock market is a gateway to opportunity in America. I believe it is a way for almost anyone from any walk of life to build wealth and partake in the American Dream.

More than half of Americans own stocks. According to an April 2017 Gallup poll, 54 percent of adult Americans owned stock in 2016. I feel many more could have the same opportunity. Today, because of the internet and discount brokerages, almost anyone can purchase a share of a stock. And with Defined Contribution Retirement Plans being so prevalent, many more people have a vested interest in the bond and equities markets.

However, while investing in stocks, bonds, or alternatives can be profitable, there is risk. It can also be a very scary and nerve-racking experience if you don’t understand the markets. If you are watching a certain stock on a daily basis, the ups and downs can make you dizzy.

Integrating all the relevant information necessary to manage a financial portfolio can be a very convoluted job without appropriate information. We are bombarded with information every day. If you don’t know what to look for, it can be difficult to sift out the information you need from all that is available. Talking to certain advisors could make the issue more confusing. Whether you are actively investing right now, or you have investment accounts through your job, you probably have used several different advisors, each with different specialties, and each has his or her own bias on best practices for financial wellbeing. Formerly, I was licensed and worked as a full-service advisor selling insurance, annuities, and various investments. Insurance people see insurance and annuities as the first and best investment opportunity. Realtors generally prefer real estate, either personal or