{"id":5037,"date":"2014-07-08T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-08T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moneyripples.com\/?p=5037"},"modified":"2022-08-10T19:19:33","modified_gmt":"2022-08-11T02:19:33","slug":"if-not-mutual-funds-where-should-i-put-my-money-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moneyripples.com\/money-ripples-st\/?p=5037","title":{"rendered":"If Not Mutual Funds, Where Should I Put My Money? &#8211; 14"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You obviously know I&#8217;m not a big fan of retirement plans. The inevitable question I get is, &#8220;If not retirement plans, where should we put our money?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Find out some safe, and powerful places where you can trust your money can work for you.<\/p>\n<p>Listen in!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>&#8212;<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Listen to the podcast here<\/h3>\n<p><iframe src=\"\/\/percolate.blogtalkradio.com\/offsiteplayer?hostId=709401&amp;episodeId=6543275\" width=\"100%\" height=\"180px\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>If Not Mutual Funds, Where Should I Put My Money?<\/h2>\n<p>We\u2019re going to talk about some good stuff. I\u2019ll tell you the overall theme. If you\u2019ve been on the show before, it\u2019s all about prosperity. How do we create greater freedom and prosperity now, not 30 or 40 years from now? I want to talk about this quickly. This is going to be a fun topic. Many people have heard me talk about this, but many people haven\u2019t. I want to make sure I address this one, which is if I\u2019m not recommending people put their money into mutual funds, where should they put their money?<\/p>\n<p>This is going to be a great one to consider here because it\u2019s not going to be quite what you\u2019ve heard before, especially if you\u2019ve listened to mainstream media and most mainstream financial advice, it\u2019s going to tell you to invest in mutual funds, and that\u2019s pretty much it. That\u2019s your only hope for prosperity and possible financial freedom. We\u2019ll get into that later.<\/p>\n<p>I welcome you to read the past episodes as well. You\u2019ll notice that we\u2019ll be on <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/money-ripples-podcast\/id895555599\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iTunes<\/a>. On the website, you can download this through iTunes as well. I\u2019m excited about that. I\u2019ll let you know when that happens too. Feel free to check out our website for other great information, events, and things like that coming up on <a href=\"https:\/\/moneyripples.com\/money-ripples-st\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MoneyRipples.com<\/a>. Make sure you check that out because there are lots of good updates. I\u2019d love to write some great blogs on there, too, that lessons will inspire shows like this one. Let\u2019s jump in.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s talk about mutual funds. I want you to consider this as we get started. One, I\u2019m not someone with a securities license where I\u2019m going to tell you to invest in mutual funds anyways. I\u2019m not the one to tell you whether you should be cashing them out. I\u2019m not wanting to tell you whether you should be putting money in. What I\u2019m looking to do is to open up your mind to other possibilities and also look at evidence of what\u2019s worked and what hasn\u2019t worked, especially over the last several years.<\/p>\n<p>Mutual funds are funny because you have everybody telling you, \u201cYou should put money in mutual funds.\u201d Even for people that don\u2019t advocate mutual funds, that\u2019s still the default answer. If you\u2019re an American, put your money in your IRAs or 401(k). It\u2019s always about putting money into some fund or something that somebody else controls and manages. It\u2019s always some kind of financial product.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been several years since I quit being a financial advisor. You have to understand that the things I\u2019m talking about now are almost the exact opposite of what I used to teach several years ago. It was about eight years ago, in 2022, that I quit. I said, \u201cI\u2019m no longer going to be a financial advisor. I\u2019m done. I can\u2019t teach this stuff in integrity because it hasn\u2019t worked.\u201d If you look at the evidence around us, people are better off financially than they were 20 to 30 years before. Of course not. For people who are worse off or even paying off more debt, there is still more bond and people that have less savings.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a lot more going on beneath the surface than what people are acknowledging. The fact is that most people will blame it on you. They\u2019ll say, \u201cYou\u2019re not saving enough. You\u2019re not paying off your debt fast enough. You\u2019re not working hard and not sacrificing enough. You\u2019re being selfish.\u201d It\u2019s ridiculous. It\u2019s funny when I see people comment, and they can spit out the typical type of stuff that comes out of their mouth. I say, \u201cThat\u2019s awesome, but how has that worked? How has that been proven to work up to this?\u201d If all of this financial advice has been so good, why hasn\u2019t it worked yet? Why aren\u2019t people better off financially? Even people that think they are better off don\u2019t feel better off. What\u2019s the problem?<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5042\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5042\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5042\" src=\"https:\/\/media.moneyripples.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/07220953\/Graphics-Caption-1-MORI-14-If-Not-Mutual-Funds-Where-Should-I-Put-My-Money.jpg\" alt=\"MORI 14 | Mutual Funds\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-5042\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mutual Funds: If you kept up with the market, you\u2019d realize that most mutual funds don&#8217;t even get the average market returns.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>No Financial Product Will Save You<\/h3>\n<p>I\u2019m here to tell you that if you\u2019re looking for a financial product on this show, especially on this episode that\u2019s going to save you, I\u2019m going to tell you something that you may or may not like. There is not a single financial product that\u2019s going to work for you. There is no single financial product that will ever make you financially free. If there\u2019s anybody that tries to tell you otherwise, they\u2019re selling you junk. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n<p>If they\u2019re telling you that mutual funds are the answer, it is because they\u2019re selling it. If they\u2019re telling you, it\u2019s indexed funds, universal life, or different types of life insurance policies, and things like that, they\u2019re trying to sell you something. If they\u2019re trying to tell you that it\u2019s all about your real estate, they tend to try to sell you something, and that\u2019s the problem.<\/p>\n<p>One of the biggest things I\u2019m trying to teach right here is that there is no one single product that\u2019s ever going to save you. If that\u2019s what you think is going to happen, you\u2019re going to end up like everybody else who believes the same thing as you, which is getting the same results. The first time I realized this was about a year before I quit several years ago.<\/p>\n<p>As I was listening to a guy teach, he was a trainer from one of the companies that we used for financial products. He started teaching us things about the stock market and average versus actual returns. For example, did you know that if you lose 50% in a year in a market, you\u2019re going to find out that it doesn\u2019t take 50% to make you back even?<\/p>\n<p>What do I mean? Say you went from $20,000 down to $10,000 in your fund. If you make a 50% rate of return, 50% of $10,000 is only $5,000. You only got up to $15,000. In reality, if you lose 50%, you have to make 100%. You have to double your money after losing half of it in order to be back to where you started.<\/p>\n<p>Think about that. In two years, if you\u2019re trying to do averages here, negative 50 plus 100 is 50 divided by two years. That\u2019s a 25% average rate of return in that scenario. This is why all the mutual fund companies and everybody talks about the stock market. They always deal with averages. They don\u2019t tell you what you made. They tell you, \u201cHere\u2019s the average rate of return over the last 5, 10, 15, 20, and 40 million years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are some funds that we were talking about. It was Pioneer Fund back from before the Great Depression that was still around. It was one of the few mutual funds that beat the market. If you think about it, if the market in the Great Depression lost nearly 90%, you would need about a 900% rate of return to break even again.<\/p>\n<span class='bctt-click-to-tweet'><span class='bctt-ctt-text'><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmoneyripples.com%2Fmoney-ripples-st%2F%3Fp%3D5037&#038;text=There%20is%20not%20a%20single%20finished%20product%20that%27s%20going%20to%20work%20for%20you.%20There%20is%20no%20single%20finished%20product%20that%20will%20ever%20make%20you%20financially%20free.%20If%20there%27s%20anybody%20that%20tries%20to%20tell%20you%20otherwise%2C%20they%27re%20just%20selling%20you%20junk.&#038;related\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">There is not a single finished product that&#039;s going to work for you. There is no single finished product that will ever make you financially free. If there&#039;s anybody that tries to tell you otherwise, they&#039;re just selling you junk. <\/a><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmoneyripples.com%2Fmoney-ripples-st%2F%3Fp%3D5037&#038;text=There%20is%20not%20a%20single%20finished%20product%20that%27s%20going%20to%20work%20for%20you.%20There%20is%20no%20single%20finished%20product%20that%20will%20ever%20make%20you%20financially%20free.%20If%20there%27s%20anybody%20that%20tries%20to%20tell%20you%20otherwise%2C%20they%27re%20just%20selling%20you%20junk.&#038;related\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"bctt-ctt-btn\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n<p>Think about that growth. You would have this massive positive number of positive average returns by the time you finally got back to where you started. A lot of you saw from Y2K all the way to the late 2000s. We saw two dips in one decade. If they show you a ten-year period, you think, \u201cIt\u2019s amazing how good I\u2019m doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even right now, people are thinking they\u2019re doing great because the market hit a low in March 2003. You look at the ten-year average, and you\u2019d say, \u201cThat looks pretty dang good.\u201d You\u2019ll even look at the five-year average and compare it to what it was in 2008 and 2009 now. You\u2019re saying, \u201cIt looks good because look at that bottom that we hit.\u201d If you\u2019ll measure from the bottom and look up, everything looks great. Looking over time, you\u2019ll start to realize, \u201cIf I was to make this X amount of dollars, wouldn\u2019t I be better off?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dave Ramsey did a Twitter post that I often show in my events that says, \u201cIf you save $100 a month for the next 40 years at a 12% average rate of return in the market, you will have $1.14 million.\u201d Here\u2019s the problem with that. One is I did the math myself. It came out to be $979,000. Secondly, even if the best of the market\u2019s average is 12%, the average does not mean actual. If you were to put your numbers in a calculator to see what you\u2019d have in the market over the last several years, put in about 7.5% and that\u2019s if you kept up with the market. You realize that most mutual funds don\u2019t even get the average market returns.<\/p>\n<p>Think about this. I\u2019m looking at Yahoo Finance or the related news to the market because the market\u2019s down 100 points now. It went down from a high. You see headlines like this. Stock skid before earnings. Triple-digit slide for Dow. Dow falls more than 100, drops below 17,000. The stock slips. Dow is holding 17,000.<\/p>\n<p>High expectations for earnings. That\u2019s contrasting news there. To see the market close to highs for years, strategist, growth mystery, jobs versus GDP, PE powerplay takes center stage, Boomer\u2019s big bang impact on big pharmaceuticals. Chinese money looking for a home. Wall Street Journal celebrates its 125 years. All this stuff that you have seen. Rates aren\u2019t going anywhere. All these kinds of headlines mean squat.<\/p>\n<p>From my own experience, I taught people for several years how to trade stocks and options as well. If anybody used to be a fan of the market, it was me. I tell people to ignore a lot of the news because you\u2019ll look at it one day, and it sounds like this. The next day, watch it happens tomorrow. You\u2019ll hear the opposite news. You\u2019ll hear things about oil prices declining or increasing, or you\u2019ll hear about, \u201cIt\u2019s better than expected rate market returns, or there\u2019s an expected earnings report.\u201d All of a sudden, the market will go up, and it\u2019s like this weird, crazy thing. If you don\u2019t feel like following the market, I would recommend not being in the market.<\/p>\n<p>Most people recommend trying to be in the market, and they end up not understanding it or don\u2019t follow it. They wonder why they feel lost and out of control. You cannot have financial freedom if you feel like you\u2019re out of control. You got to understand that mutual funds, for the most part, don\u2019t do as well. If they love the stock market, I\u2019d rather have them trade their own stocks and options and try to go and let some money manager do it for them.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5043\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5043\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5043\" src=\"https:\/\/media.moneyripples.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/07220955\/Graphics-Caption-2-MORI-14-If-Not-Mutual-Funds-Where-Should-I-Put-My-Money.jpg\" alt=\"MORI 14 | Mutual Funds\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-5043\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mutual Funds: What allows you to retire? What allows you to be financially free? If you really ponder that question, you&#8217;ll realize it has nothing to do with how much money you accumulate, but it has everything to do with cashflow.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>So Where Do We Put The Money?<\/h3>\n<p>I know that mutual funds can be a better option than doing nothing, potentially. I\u2019m not promising that\u2019s the case either, but that\u2019s a possibility. If not in mutual funds, where in the heck can we put the money? I get a lot of clients, and they say, \u201cWe\u2019ve got cashflow in control. You showed us how to find hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a month. This is great. Now, we\u2019re starting to protect ourselves and be in a better financial position. We\u2019re building emergency savings and everything else. What about retirement? How are we going to retire?\u201d That\u2019s a great question.<\/p>\n<p>How do you understand retirement? We talked about this a little bit. We talked about some of these concepts. You can\u2019t always think that it\u2019s always about accumulating money to live off the interest. If you remember that from our last show, I recommend you read that. That\u2019s a good first part of this. It\u2019s not about living off the interest. That\u2019s what most people do. That\u2019s a slow way to create wealth. Usually, most people will never accumulate enough to live off the interest. If you\u2019ve got to live off 3% a year like most financial advisors are starting to recommend now, the old school ones are still saying 4%, but the ones that are wise enough are saying no more than 2% or 3% because it\u2019ll probably run out of money. If you have $1 million, you live off 3%, that\u2019s $30,000 a year. That\u2019s hard to do.<\/p>\n<p>Some people still believe that the market produces 12% a year, which it doesn\u2019t. If you believe that, you think you\u2019re going to be set. If you were to use that same Dave Ramsey example, 7%, you would only have about $250,000 versus over $1 million, as he was saying. Living off 3% of $250,000 is not a lot. You\u2019re a little off over maybe $600 a month.<\/p>\n<p>I want you to look at it differently in the sense of what allows you to be able to retire and get to a place where you\u2019re financially free. If you ponder that question, you\u2019ll realize it has nothing to do with how much money you accumulate but everything to do with cashflow. How do you produce enough cashflow?<\/p>\n<p>I want you to consider, instead of trying to accumulate money, where can we go for cashflow? When I recommend these things, I\u2019m not selling anything. I don\u2019t sell any products myself. I offer education and consulting. I worked with a whole team that can offer products and services like accountants, attorneys, investment people, insurance people, and people like that that can help you with this. The thing is, I don\u2019t believe there\u2019s any one product or one strategy that\u2019s going to do it for you. It\u2019s a coordination of using multiple ones.<\/p>\n<p>First and foremost, especially those of you that are entrepreneurs. Focus on your own business first. This is a place where I think you should be putting a lot of focus on money. It doesn\u2019t mean that you don\u2019t save. Don\u2019t get me wrong, but when you save, you save differently as an entrepreneur. Let me go to those of you that may not be an entrepreneur. Let me address you first because you\u2019re not going to feel the same opportunities. If you\u2019re not an entrepreneur and not putting money in, I would consider you to look at at least being an intrapreneur or an entrepreneur of some sort. We\u2019re doing something more outside of the box.<\/p>\n<p>Things that are financial products that could work, I like guaranteed things. For example, people that already have IRAs or 401(k) may be looking to roll something over into something better. My general rule of thumb is that you go for the safe, sure bet. Many people come to me and say, \u201cI want to make a lot of money, and I\u2019ll recommend things that are safer.\u201d They might return a few percent a year. Maybe it\u2019s 4% or 5% or a little bit more, which isn\u2019t that far off the market.<\/p>\n<span class='bctt-click-to-tweet'><span class='bctt-ctt-text'><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmoneyripples.com%2Fmoney-ripples-st%2F%3Fp%3D5037&#038;text=You%20cannot%20have%20financial%20freedom%20if%20you%20feel%20like%20you%27re%20out%20of%20control.%20&#038;related\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">You cannot have financial freedom if you feel like you&#039;re out of control.  <\/a><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmoneyripples.com%2Fmoney-ripples-st%2F%3Fp%3D5037&#038;text=You%20cannot%20have%20financial%20freedom%20if%20you%20feel%20like%20you%27re%20out%20of%20control.%20&#038;related\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"bctt-ctt-btn\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n<p>They\u2019ll say, \u201cChris, I want to make more money. That doesn\u2019t seem exciting to me.\u201d I\u2019ll say, \u201cYou\u2019ll see a lot more exciting than when you lose all your money.\u201d I have one client in particular who made decent money, and he didn\u2019t quite understand that at first, but he put the faith in for me to do it. We had to put places where money was safer. He stops gambling it. He had his money crossed overseas and things like that. We got most of his money in a place where it was controllable.<\/p>\n<p>A year later, he called me up and said, \u201cChris, we need to talk.\u201d I thought, \u201cI hope it\u2019s good.\u201d He was a skeptical guy, and we hadn\u2019t talked for months. I would get a little bit nervous when I haven\u2019t heard from people for a while, and they say, \u201cWe need to talk.\u201d He comes back and says, \u201cChris, I don\u2019t know how you did it, but my net worth went up over $100,000. He was only making $130,000 a year.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s like, \u201cEveryone is up over $100,000. It\u2019s crazy. I don\u2019t even understand it.\u201d He inherited some money that year. He said, \u201cIf I will take that all out of my net worth, I still made over $100,000 extra. I attribute that to you.\u201d I said, \u201cI told you from the beginning that earning 0% is not your worst-case scenario. Losing more than 100% is.\u201d Sometimes there is an investment you could lose more than what you put in. I\u2019m sure some of you might\u2019ve experienced that. I always tell people, \u201cIt\u2019s always better to have that money there for sure. Have it liquid and available to use for other things in case there are better opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ironically enough, there was $250,000 he did not put with the guys on my team, and that $250,000, he kept with a friend that he\u2019s known since the \u201880s. That friend ended up taking that money and blew it. He ran off the money and it was gone. He said, \u201cThe only money I\u2019ve lost was $250,000. The crazy thing was the money that you guys were trying to get me to get out of there, and I didn\u2019t do it\u201d The one time he didn\u2019t listen to you cost me $250,000, but he\u2019s like, \u201cI\u2019m glad that we moved about $500,000 from there before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The point of this is for those of you that don\u2019t have a business and who you want to put in safe places. Places like indexed or fixed annuities are possibilities. Whole Life Insurance is the only type of life insurance I usually recommend for most people. There are rare cases where universal life can be good but not for most people.<\/p>\n<p>The Whole Life tends to be the sure bet and to guarantee that the money is going to be there and available if you need it. Problems with things like universal life insurance is that it\u2019s not always available. You have hefty surrender charges and things like that in the beginning. I don\u2019t recommend those kinds of things. I also recommend most people that sell whole life. Most people that sell whole life don\u2019t understand how to use it as a way to create real wealth. That\u2019s probably a whole new episode in and of itself, but whole life can be a great option.<\/p>\n<p>Even if you\u2019re a business owner, you\u2019re looking for a place to store money that shelters it more from taxes. If you earn average, the strategy I use is people earn at least 4% or 5% on the cash inside there. What\u2019s cool about that is at least 4% or 5% a year is tax-free and doesn\u2019t have all the worries in the market. You\u2019re then taking that money and using it elsewhere to invest. You exceed way better than you would ever do, like in a Roth IRA or things like that, if you do it right and you do it wisely.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5044\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5044\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5044\" src=\"https:\/\/media.moneyripples.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/07220957\/Graphics-Caption-3-MORI-14-If-Not-Mutual-Funds-Where-Should-I-Put-My-Money.jpg\" alt=\"MORI 14 | Mutual Funds\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-5044\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mutual Funds: It&#8217;s funny that the higher the return that people promise, the less research that people will do on that investment.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Whole life can be a great option, especially if you\u2019re looking to not make that the end. It\u2019s a place to store money to be used elsewhere. Imagine using money and making money in two different places. It\u2019s pretty cool. There are some great options there as well. I don\u2019t usually recommend mutual funds because of the fact that you can\u2019t ever have any certainty. They tend to perform a lot less than what they\u2019re told they would perform.<\/p>\n<p>Mutual funds are over promise and underdeliver, while whole life tends to under promise and over deliver for the most part. It\u2019s the way the industry has its weird and wacko way. For those of you that don\u2019t have a business, that\u2019s one great option. For those of you that do, I mentioned some of these strategies. Some of these can also work, but I want to make sure that it\u2019s all focused on how you develop and grow your business.<\/p>\n<p>The reason I recommend whole life for people is that it\u2019s a great storage place to keep money temporarily. That\u2019s when you have extra overflow or when you\u2019re looking to use it down the road. It\u2019s great to store it there and use it later because there\u2019s a lot more flexibility with whole life. It\u2019s much like a savings account but tax-free and earns a much better return than a savings account.<\/p>\n<p>I usually like people that put that money back into their business. Many of you have heard me tell that story about my brother-in-law where he said, \u201cI could invest $10,000 with you in a mutual fund and maybe make 12%. That\u2019s $1,200 a year, or I can take $10,000, put down payment on a semi-truck that I can turn around and sell, and make $20,000 in a few months. Chris, why would I invest my money with you?\u201d That\u2019s a great point.<\/p>\n<p>If you can make more of your business, why invest in all these mutual funds and other people\u2019s stocks? Why invest in all these other companies and not your own? It\u2019s crazy that financial advisors are telling you to pull money out of your business to put it in somebody else\u2019s. That\u2019s ridiculous. It\u2019s keeping your business. Carlos Slim, the richest man in the world, owns a Mexican telecommunications company. He even beat out Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.<\/p>\n<p>Even he will say that every time he invests money outside of his business, he loses money. When he\u2019s put it back into invest his business and making it grow and bigger, he\u2019s made more. Maybe you\u2019re at a point where you don\u2019t want to grow your business more. You\u2019ve got places you can put it and store it, but consider not looking there.<\/p>\n<p>If you are at that point, you might look at other things like real estate investing. Real estate can be a great option, especially if you\u2019re doing it more than the money. There\u2019s an interest there. Look at it. I meet some farmers sometimes. A lot of times, they say, \u201cShould I do real estate or stock?\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cWhat do you know about it?\u201d He said, \u201cI understand corn and crops.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cWhy not look at commodities? Why not look at doing that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve known some farmers that are wealthy, not because of their crops but because they know how to play the trading game when it comes to commodities. They know how to play the whole price game of corn and things like that or hedge their risk with their own crops. That\u2019s why it was created in the first place. It can be a great option, especially if you know and understand it, and you can love it regardless of the money. Do you have an interest in it or some passion behind it? That\u2019s a great recipe for success.<\/p>\n<span class='bctt-click-to-tweet'><span class='bctt-ctt-text'><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmoneyripples.com%2Fmoney-ripples-st%2F%3Fp%3D5037&#038;text=There%20are%20a%20million%20ways%20to%20make%20a%20million%20dollars%20or%20more.%20Don%27t%20feel%20so%20stressed%20and%20trapped%20that%20you%20have%20to%20just%20go%20and%20invest%20in%20the%20status%20quo.&#038;related\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">There are a million ways to make a million dollars or more. Don&#039;t feel so stressed and trapped that you have to just go and invest in the status quo. <\/a><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmoneyripples.com%2Fmoney-ripples-st%2F%3Fp%3D5037&#038;text=There%20are%20a%20million%20ways%20to%20make%20a%20million%20dollars%20or%20more.%20Don%27t%20feel%20so%20stressed%20and%20trapped%20that%20you%20have%20to%20just%20go%20and%20invest%20in%20the%20status%20quo.&#038;related\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"bctt-ctt-btn\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n<p>For example, if trading stocks and options seem painful to you, don\u2019t do it. What would make that any different than having a job if you went and invested in that? You don\u2019t have to do these things. Don\u2019t feel pressured by people that try to sell you their own agendas to go invest in certain things. You don\u2019t invest in things that you feel are best for you. Find a way to make them work.<\/p>\n<p>There are a million ways to make $1 million or more. Don\u2019t feel trapped that you have to go and invest in the status quo. Don\u2019t feel like you have to go invest in real estate, even if it is a great option. It may be a great option for a lot of you, but don\u2019t feel like you have to. Making 15%, 20% to 25% cash-on-cash type of returns on your money is awesome.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s something to consider, too, when you\u2019re looking to invest in stuff. I talk a lot about thinking like a bank because banks know how to do it better. Think about this. Banks are some of the best investors in the world. Are they not? Put aside the fact that some banks decided to over-leverage themselves, and they had to get government bailout money. Some of those guys were ridiculous.<\/p>\n<p>Most banks, the ones that you don\u2019t hear in the media, are the ones that are making big-time dollars on you. Some of them, for example, when they have extra money, what are they doing with it? They\u2019re turning around, loaning it back to you. Who says you couldn\u2019t become a lender yourself? I wish more people would invest like banks because banks don\u2019t give money freely and easily. Some might do it in certain situations, but they\u2019re still researching you to a degree, aren\u2019t they?<\/p>\n<p>They are looking at your credit scores, payment history, and how good an investment you are, not so much the money when they give you a loan for a car, even for a house. For some of you who have been trying to get a mortgage, think about how much information they\u2019ve gotten from you. I have one friend that said they pretty much asked her for everything but her bra size. I had a laugh at that because it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n<p>I wish more people when they would invest, would spend more time doing that. Do you know that it\u2019s funny that the higher the return that people promise, the less research that people will do on that investment? I\u2019ve seen that to be true in my own life. I\u2019ve seen clients of mine. They\u2019ll say, \u201cNo, I don\u2019t want to go for the sure thing. I don\u2019t want to do whole life as a place to store my money. I want to go to this thing that\u2019s going to pay me 25% or 30% a year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0They\u2019ll do a little research on it. They\u2019ll lose money and get mad, but they\u2019ll do all kinds of research, kick and scream about the things that are guaranteed. The thing is that you got to be careful about how your emotions are when it comes to money like this. Consider becoming a lender yourself if you could do enough research.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5038\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5038\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5038\" src=\"https:\/\/media.moneyripples.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/07220935\/Graphics-Caption-4-MORI-14-If-Not-Mutual-Funds-Where-Should-I-Put-My-Money.jpg\" alt=\"MORI 14 | Mutual Funds\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-5038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mutual Funds: If you understand it and you can love it regardless of the money, if you have an interest in it, some sort of passion behind it, that&#8217;s a great recipe for success.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I remember asking somebody. I said, \u201cI can\u2019t keep you accountable. Will you join my program so I can know your finances and numbers? I can keep you accountable and make sure that this investment is successful.&#8221; She said, \u201cNo.\u201d I said, \u201cI\u2019m not loaning you money because I can\u2019t keep you accountable. I can\u2019t control that investment.\u201d I love having control because control creates more freedom. Look for different ways to do it. Lending money can be great, but make sure you\u2019re doing enough research. You can become your own bank and think about what a bank does. A bank, when they loan money, do they ever loan money for a mutual fund?<\/p>\n<p>Would you go into a bank and say, \u201cI\u2019m looking to borrow $50,000 to put in my 401(k)?\u201d What will they say? Do you know it\u2019s illegal? You\u2019ll have to sign waivers when you do a mutual fund that says that you\u2019re not borrowing money to put in the market. Why? Because banks know it\u2019s ridiculous. That\u2019s what happened during the Great Depression. People borrowed money to put in the stock market because they couldn\u2019t lose. When they did, people lost their shirts.<\/p>\n<p>Banks don\u2019t want to do that. They\u2019re not dumb and not going to put money in mutual funds. If they\u2019re not going to do it, why should you? If they think it\u2019s a bad investment? Why does everybody else in the middle class or even lower class think that\u2019s a great investment? They\u2019ll barely even lend you money to invest in the stock market and only lend you the money up to the point of what you have. If you start losing too much money, they call it to do. They\u2019ll pull out all the money, and you\u2019re left holding the bag.<\/p>\n<p>Even then, they take very little risk. They don\u2019t want to take any risks with their money, but you will notice that they do lend you money when it comes to things like business. They\u2019ll give you a business loan, won\u2019t they? They\u2019ll research you and see if you\u2019re a good investment. They will also lend for real estate. They know that too. Lend for those kinds of things. They won\u2019t lend for things that are crazy. They won\u2019t lend money to things that don\u2019t work.<\/p>\n<p>Where should you put your money? First and foremost is where you know a lot about it, and where do you have some passionate interest. Start there. I wish I could get an easy blanket answer for you, but if I did, you would know I\u2019m selling you something. That\u2019s why I\u2019m not giving you a blanket answer. I\u2019m the one guy that\u2019s not going to be selling you things. This is why I am the Financial Advocate for the Entrepreneur because I\u2019m telling you to invest in you, your education, your business, and investing in things where you can control it, and we can decide from there.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why I do things like money leak evaluations and so forth, where we try to determine where you\u2019re leaking money and what might be a good option for you. If you ever have an interest and say, \u201cI\u2019d love to know where to invest my money,\u201d send me an email at <a href=\"mailto:Chris@MoneyRipples.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chris@MoneyRipples.com<\/a> and ask. See if we can open up that conversation.<\/p>\n<p>For the most part, if you\u2019re here to learn to open up your mind, consider you don\u2019t have to invest in mutual funds. That\u2019s not the only option. There are so many places you can go and invest. The options are limitless. Don\u2019t think it\u2019s scarcity that you don\u2019t have those options. Join us next time. We\u2019re going to start talking about how to make money without money. It\u2019s going to be a great show. Join us there. Make it a prosperous day. I\u2019m telling you to go out, prosper and love your life.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Important Links<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"mailto:Chris@MoneyRipples.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chris@MoneyRipples.com<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/Bankrate.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bankrate.com<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/money-ripples-podcast\/id895555599\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iTunes<\/a> \u2013 Money Ripples<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:180px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You obviously know I&#8217;m not a big fan of retirement plans. The inevitable question I get is, &#8220;If not retirement plans, where should we put our money?&#8221; Find out some safe, and powerful places where you can trust your money can work for you. Listen in! &#8212; Listen to the podcast here \u00a0 If Not <a href=\"https:\/\/moneyripples.com\/money-ripples-st\/?p=5037\" class=\"more-link\">&#8230;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  If Not Mutual Funds, Where Should I Put My Money? &#8211; 14<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[215,36,127,500,581,582],"class_list":["post-5037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-and-podcasts","tag-cashflow","tag-financial-freedom","tag-mutual-funds","tag-personal-finance","tag-retirement-plans","tag-whole-life-insurance"],"acf":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/media.moneyripples.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/07220938\/Graphics-Episode-Art-MORI-14-If-Not-Mutual-Funds-Where-Should-I-Put-My-Money-Banner.jpg",940,492,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/media.moneyripples.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/07220938\/Graphics-Episode-Art-MORI-14-If-Not-Mutual-Funds-Where-Should-I-Put-My-Money-Banner.jpg",940,492,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/media.moneyripples.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/07220938\/Graphics-Episode-Art-MORI-14-If-Not-Mutual-Funds-Where-Should-I-Put-My-Money-Banner.jpg",940,492,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/media.moneyripples.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/07220938\/Graphics-Episode-Art-MORI-14-If-Not-Mutual-Funds-Where-Should-I-Put-My-Money-Banner-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/media.moneyripples.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/07220938\/Graphics-Episode-Art-MORI-14-If-Not-Mutual-Funds-Where-Should-I-Put-My-Money-Banner-300x157.jpg",300,157,true],"large":["https:\/\/media.moneyripples.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/07220938\/Graphics-Episode-Art-MORI-14-If-Not-Mutual-Funds-Where-Should-I-Put-My-Money-Banner.jpg",940,492,false],"tf-client-image-size":["https:\/\/media.moneyripples.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/07220938\/Graphics-Episode-Art-MORI-14-If-Not-Mutual-Funds-Where-Should-I-Put-My-Money-Banner.jpg",120,63,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/media.moneyripples.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/07220938\/Graphics-Episode-Art-MORI-14-If-Not-Mutual-Funds-Where-Should-I-Put-My-Money-Banner.jpg",940,492,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/media.moneyripples.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/07220938\/Graphics-Episode-Art-MORI-14-If-Not-Mutual-Funds-Where-Should-I-Put-My-Money-Banner.jpg",940,492,false],"bloom_image":["https:\/\/media.moneyripples.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/07220938\/Graphics-Episode-Art-MORI-14-If-Not-Mutual-Funds-Where-Should-I-Put-My-Money-Banner-610x319.jpg",610,319,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Chris Miles","author_link":"https:\/\/moneyripples.com\/money-ripples-st\/author\/chris"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/moneyripples.com\/money-ripples-st\/?cat=8\" rel=\"category\">Blog and Podcasts<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"You obviously know I&#8217;m not a big fan of retirement plans. The inevitable question I get is, &#8220;If not retirement plans, where should we put our money?&#8221; Find out some safe, and powerful places where you can trust your money can work for you. Listen in! &#8212; Listen to the podcast here \u00a0 If Not&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneyripples.com\/money-ripples-st\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneyripples.com\/money-ripples-st\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneyripples.com\/money-ripples-st\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneyripples.com\/money-ripples-st\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneyripples.com\/money-ripples-st\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5037"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/moneyripples.com\/money-ripples-st\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5216,"href":"https:\/\/moneyripples.com\/money-ripples-st\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5037\/revisions\/5216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneyripples.com\/money-ripples-st\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneyripples.com\/money-ripples-st\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneyripples.com\/money-ripples-st\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneyripples.com\/money-ripples-st\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}