How To Retire Early

Retiring Early

First Published Date: July 6, 2011 ADawnJournal.com

When you are thinking of retiring, there are many things you will want to do in order to retire early. Retiring early is very important because it gives you more time to enjoy your Golden Years, but you also need to make sure you have enough money for those Golden Years as well.

Naturally, the most important thing you can do is to start early in saving up for your retirement savings. You want to start early because not only will that help you weather any financial storms in life, it will allow you to save more money for a longer period of time. If you do not start early with saving for your retirement, there is little chance that you are going to be able to retire early.

Of course, starting early is only part of it, you need to also cut how much you spend. Remember, the less you spend, the more you save. The more you save, the earlier you can retire. It really is just that easy, so forget about getting that second car and look at getting some money into the bank instead. Do you need a big house? No, then go and put that money you would have spent on a large mortgage into the bank.

Start putting money into your retirement plans at work as soon as you can. Whether it is a Canada Pension Plan or IRA with the United States.

Investing is important if you want to retire early but it will do you no good to invest in risky ventures that could cost you all the money you have saved.

When you are younger, you can invest more aggressively because there is a greater amount of time to recoup any losses you suffer. However, as you age, make your investments safer and safer. Don’t be investing in junk bonds at the age of 50 because you may win big, but you could just as easily lose very big.

Mortgages cost a lot of money and the sooner you pay off your mortgage, the more money you can save each month. If your mortgage costs you $1,500 a month, paying it off will earn you $3,000 every two months, $30,000 every 20 months and by the time you reach five years, you will have saved $150,000.

Obviously, it is not always that easy to save for an early retirement but by starting sooner, spending less and being wise with your investments you could see yourself hitting your golden years at 50, instead of 65, giving you a lot of extra time to enjoy life before you have to slow things done because of old age.

Of course if you don’t do any of these things, you can always hope that you a rich uncle will pass away and leave you a vast fortune that you can retire on, but that is about as likely as winning the lottery.

Financial Author A Dawn’s New Book Save Now Is Designed To Reach His Global Readers

Dawn Starts Working on His Second Book “Save Now: A Universal Guide to Saving”

First Published Date: July 13, 2011 ADawnJournal.com

When my first book Invest Now was published, my main site A Dawn Journal was just starting out and there were hardly any readers.

Three years later, I have just started working on my second book “Save Now”, and things have changed since then. With all my sites (see Links on the right sidebar for URLs), being A Dawn Journal is now a high traffic site, I am able to reach more than a thousand visitors daily – and this global traffic reach is increasing steadily on a regular basis.

At this point, the time has come for me to write a book to reach my global readers and this is what I have in mind working on “Save Now.” This book will be packed with simple and doable tips to save money that can be applied across the globe. Here is a short post I wrote for the A Dawn Books site describing more about “Save Now.”

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – America’s New Financial Watchdog

First Published Date: July 19, 2011 ADawnJournal.com

America’s new financial watchdog the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau starts its journey this week. It was setup in the aftermath of the global financial crisis to give US consumers financial rights and to protect consumers by carrying out financial laws.

The central role of the CFPB to inform consumers by promoting financial education, enforce Federal consumer financial laws, and study, analyze information to better understand consumers, financial markets and service providers.

Information is what makes all the difference when it comes to understand the terms and agreements implemented by the financial companies. These terms and agreements are written in such a way that even an MBA holder faces difficulty comprehending the true meaning lies behind these infinite mazes – forget about a general consumer with no financial literacy. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s main objective will be to educate consumers, so they understand the risks and rewards when they shop for financial products. The CFPB will be doing various other things. Here are some of the most important ones:

– Enforce consumer protection laws

– Monitor financial markets to restrict illegal, abusive practices and to identify new
risks  to consumers

– Maintain a consumer toll-free hotline to take complaints

– Review practices of financial service providers

– Promote financial literacy

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau resulted from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act). On July 21, 2010, President Barack Obama signed this act into law.

How to Do a Background Check on Your Financial Advisor, Investment Advisor, Broker, Financial Planner

How to Check Out Your Financial Advisor

First Published Date: August 1, 2011 ADawnJournal.com

Investors’ Resources and Tools to Protect Against Fraud and Scams

You work hard for your money, and so are scammers and con artists to grab a bite on your hard-earned money. Scammers and con artists look professional and friendly to give you the impression that they are the real financial professional to hand over your money. So you need to be careful before trusting someone with your life savings. Today, I am going to show you some simple but effective tools you can use to find out if he is really the person he is saying he is.

National Registration Search – Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) website contains database of all financial professionals and firms across Canada, except those registered only in Ontario with the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC). Here is the link for Canadian Securities Administrators’ National Registration Search.

Only For Ontario Search – If you are in Ontario, you need to search on Ontario Securities Commission’s Check Registration page.

All Other Provinces and Territories Search – Some of the financial advisors are only registered with their own province or territory. To perform a search, try these keyword phrases on Google: Your province or territory securities commission registrant search. For example, someone in Alberta would search for: “Alberta securities commission registrant search.”

Insurance Agent Search – To check if an insurance agent or advisor is registered, try these keyword phrases on Google: Your province insurance council license search. Or try: Your province insurance agent license search.

Disciplinary Action Search – Advisors, who are licensed to sell various products such as stocks, bonds ETFs and including mutual funds are regulated by Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC). You can search their database for disciplinary actions against advisors taken in the past or currently under investigation, or research the background and qualifications of advisors at IIROC regulated firms here: Know Your Advisor. Advisors, who mainly sell mutual funds, are regulated by MFDA (Mutual Fund Dealers Association), which is the national self-regulatory organization for mutual fund advisors. MFDA’s Enforcement page will give you valuable information on enforcement policies and procedures. Also, the Canadian Securities Administrators website has a list of Disciplined Persons search and listing.

You work hard for your money, and the onus is on you to check for every bit and piece before handing over your money to someone else. One very simple thing you can do is to search on Google for your would-be financial advisor’s name. Try to be creative here by putting words like “complaints,” “fraudulent activities,” etc. next to her name to see if you can find anything. Also, don’t forget to read articles featured on A Dawn Journal’s Internet & Investment Fraud and Scams thoroughly to enhance your knowledge, helping to protect you and your hard-earned money from scammers and con artists.

How to Check Investment Products

How to Check If Stocks, Bonds, Mutual Funds, ETFs, Securities Are Legit and Not Scams

First Published Date : August 10, 2011 ADawnJournal.com

I discussed how to check out your financial advisor in this article: How to Do a Background Check on Your Financial Advisor, Investment Advisor, Broker, Financial Planner. Today, I will further discuss how to check investment products so your hard-earned money does not go down the drain.

My Best Advice

When you are ready to buy your investments, my best advice would be not to rush into it and take your time to do some research before buying any investment products such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, GICs, ETFs, or anything else you can possibly imagine.

Tools and Resources You Can Use to Check Investment Products

I am going to give you lots of useful links leading to various tools and resources in this section. I suggest you bookmark or save this article so you can come back and read it later or you can access this article whenever you will need to use these tools and resources.

Know About Internet and Investment Fraud and Scams

This is the first thing to do – have a basic understanding about Internet and Investment Fraud and Scams. Once you have some knowledge on how con artists work, everything else will be a lot easier for you to follow. Here are the links to some great articles on A Dawn Journal:

– Internet and Investment Fraud and Scams

Here are some free eBook links:

– Protect Your Money: Avoiding Frauds and Scams

– Investing and the Internet

– Scam Artists Pursue Adults Over 50

Information about Individuals and Companies Which May Pose Risks

– OSC Investors Warning Page

A List Containing Individuals and Companies Which May Pose Risks

– OSC Investors Warning List Page

OSC Tools and Resources Webpage

– Investors Protect Against Fraud Page

OSC Investment Fraud Checklist

– Check Before You Invest

IFE (Investor Education Fund) Money and Investing Information Site

– Get Smarter About Money

U.S. Tools and Resources Links

– Protect Your Money: Check Out Brokers and Investment Advisers

– FINRA Protect Yourself Page

Remember, use your common sense and vigilance as they are your best defence. If you ever believe you have been a victim of fraud and scams, here is what you can do:

– Call your local RCMP detachment or your Police Department

– Report your situation online through Reporting Economic Crime Online

– Visit PhoneBusters, send an email to info@phonebusters.com, or call 1-888-495-8501