7. Being open to receive all that you are meant to have.
8. Understanding the ebb and flow of the money cycle. It is so important to learn to accept that your own money will also have its ups and downs, no matter how carefully you plan I see what the author is getting at; however, you reduce the compounding effect of your money when you have a losing year or period of losing years. Investment selection can be critical, the way to reduce that underperformance factor is to invest very early in life, meaning that compounding, even at a low rate is so powerful, it allows one to surpass having to save more later on in life. All you need is a steady return, your money should not have ups and downs, simply choose an investment that has a fixed rate of return and is not taxable to move ahead of those investors that prefer mutual funds. Suze Orman misses out on the main point of investing; time is your greatest asset, with enough time on your side you dont have to worry about picking the best stocks or funds. Charles Schwab did a study of investments by asset class performance from 1972 to 2002 (to me that is not a sufficiently long enough period of time) which he published in his book. On page 82 of his book you will see that the most conservative combination of asset class, 50 percent bonds, 30 percent cash, and 20 percent stocks produced an average return of 8.7 percent, with the worst loss year of -1.4 percent. If you can get a guaranteed rate of return of around 7.9 percent with no risk to your capital you will be ahead of the majority of investors that allow their money to participate in down cycles. If you want to allow your money to be risked for a potential reward of one or two percent higher than a guaranteed return of around 7.9 percent you dont understand the value of time or risk-reward. Dont follow what Suze says, common sense should tell you that your best bet is to never have a losing year with your long-term investments. Why give Wall Street or professional money mangers a chance to take from you? What Suze will tell you in this chapter is: Please think about your entire financial history. All the worst things, how you felt, remember the entire sequence of events. I say, a steady return without any losing years takes full advantage of compounding and is better than losing investment capital. Capital that is lost must be regained with the luck of even higher returns.
9. Recognize your true wealth. True financial freedom lies in defining ourselves by who and what we are, not by what we do or do not have. I disagree, it cannot be disputed that a steady rate of return over long periods of time is a measure of true wealth and achieving even a low rate of return is all that is necessary, but she goes on We cannot measure our self-worth by our net worth. But this book alone will not make you financially free. I couldnt agree more with that last statement. This book is a let down; it certainly doesnt give me the energy to feel like He-Man and raise my sword and shout, “I have the power!”