Well, to all my readers I would like to share with you some exciting news. Me and my girlfriend Kelly are engaged to be married (probably around February next year). This is very exciting for me and has been a long time coming. I proposed yesterday (2 Days before her birthday) and today we are out and about celebrating, having fun and living life to the fullest!

I am very excited to be engaged and to be moving towards tying the knot with my beloved fiance (not my girlfriend anymore). But this is big news and it changes the way I view money a lot now. It is no longer just about me but it is now about ‘us’….afterall the ‘two shall become one’.

When you get engaged you start to think a little bit differently about finances than you have before. I want to share with you guys how this has changed my thinking towards finances.

1. I Need To Save For a Wedding and a Honeymoon
Wow! I have a wedding and a honeymoon coming up in about 7 months and I need to start saving for that. I have never really saved for a holiday or event before, my parents have always paid for holidays. Now I am very lucky because our parents are going to pay for all most of the wedding costs, and also we have some friends who can help us get better prices on photography, flowers etc. But we need to pay for our honeymoon. And Kelly hasn’t been overseas before so she really want to go. Both of us want to go to the Maldives (which can be really expensive) so we will need to start a rigorous savings plan for this so we don’t rack up large credit

2. I Need To Move Out of Home
I have smooched off lived with my parents my entire life and for the first time in my life I will be moving out of home. This changes everything financially. I will have to pay for my own rent, my own food, my own clothes, my own repairs. Everything that I got off my parents before I will now have to source for myself. Not only that I also need to find a place to stay and we need to get furniture (hopefully some will be covered in our wedding presents). But this is a pretty big deal.

3. My Money Isn’t Just For Me Anymore
Now that we are engaged and soon to be married I am not just thinking about me with money anymore. I can’t just use my money on me (to buy something techy and cool) because I want to, I have to use that money for both of us. This will be a huge change to what I am used to, but it will be great too.

4. I Now Have Two Incomes to Manage
Soon I will have two incomes to manage, both mine and Kel’s. This will be a fun task for me because I love money and maths and she doesn’t care much. So it will be fun working out a budget, sticking to a budget, saving and investing for our future together. Also I will need to take into account what she will want to do with the money, what she wants to buy. I will definately have to make some compromises in this area. But I look forward to it

5. What If She Wants to Shop All The Time?
This is something that could happen but we have already talked this through and she is learning to be dilligent. She loves clothes shopping, I love shopping for new technology. I think we will write up a budget and allocate space for both of us to have a really good shopping spree every now and then. My mum said to me the other night.

Do everything in moderation…including moderation

So we will definately need to have a spending spree at some stage and not be uptight about finances ALL the time

6. Soon I Will Need to Work Full Time
I am finishing college at the end of November this year (in Australia we finish at the end of the year in our summer) and then I will need to get a full time job (NOOOOOOOO!!!!). Truthfully I never want to get a ‘real’ job because I want to be an entrepreneur full time and write blogs and books and lead seminars. But by the looks of it due to poor cash flow I am going to have to get a real job to support us and to save up for the wedding. I think I will get a job in sales, that way I can earn commission and I can learn about sales at the same time. 

Well I am an engaged man now and I am going off to celebrate with my fiance and our friends. I hope you all are happy for me and I will still be posting continually everyday so don’t worry. Please leave notes of encouragement in the comments below

The other night I was watching a TV show “Better Homes and Gardens” and they had loads of great tips on how to save money on your water and energy bill in the home and also how to save the environment at the same time. All of these tips come straight from the show (re worded by me) and are a fantastic way to save money at home.

In The Kitchen (Save $170/year)

When buying any kitchen appliance try to buy an appliance with the highest energy star rating. The higher the amount of stars means to more energy it will use (and the less it will cost you to run.)
Keep your fridge away from the over and out of direct sunlight to save on power. Also have a night gap all the way around your fridge especially at the back. This keeps a natural airflow going to keep the coils nice and cool. Also test the seal on your fridge (the magnets) by putting a bank note in between the fridge and the seal. Shut the door. If the note slides out really easily then you might need to look at getting the seals replaced.
All up doing these things can save you $170/year (more…)

Creating your very own products is a great way to increase your income from your website. There are many products that are fairly easy to make (just require a little hard work) and also many of them are free to create (or reasonably cheap). If you run a blog or a website and you have regular readers then many of your readers will thank you for offering them a paid service with A Grade information they can use to improve their lives (for me to improve their financial situation).

Don’t be afraid to create your own products. Almost everyone has the skills and knowledge to create a product of their own (of some sort) that they can sell to make money. And even if you don’t have the skills yet you can certainly learn them. (more…)

Having a list of 30 things to do before you turn 30 is a great motivator to push you forward to succeed in life. I strongly believe that everyone should have a list of 30 things which they want to do by the time they are 30

Having a list like this is great to motivate you towards achieving great things before you turn 30. Below is a list of things I have chosen that I would like to do by the time I am 30 and I believe some of these will be the same for you and some will be different. Have a look at them and pick and choose which ones you want for your life.

Your 30 things which you want to achieve by the time you are thirty can be anything at all. They can range from areas such as fiances to relationships and anything else you can think of.

I want to challenge everyone to create a list of 30 things to do before you are 30 and to post it on your site or write it on a piece of paper that you can view everyday. If you are over 30 then do 30 things to do before you are 40, or 50, or 60. 

So here is my list of 30 things you should do before you turn 30:

1. Become a Millionaire (save over $1,000,000)
2. Go Skydiving
3. Get Married
4. Have a Baby
5. Buy Your First Home
6. Buy Your First Investment Property
7. Have Sex (within marriage)
8. Publish a Book
9. Start a Website
10. Preach A Sermon
11. Live In Another Country For a Period of Time
12. Go On a Reality TV Show
13. Work for Yourself
14. See the 7 Wonders of the World (man made/ natural/ historic etc)
15. Be financially secure enough to retire at 30
16. Go on a short term missions trek
17. Start an international aid organisation (or get heavily involved in one)
18. Earn over $100,000 per year
19. Go one holidays to the Maldives (it is so beautiful there)
20. See the Great Barrier Reef (once in a lifetime experience)
21. Go to space (who knows space tourism could be around soon)
22. Run a Half Marathon
23. Run a Marathon
24. Join a Gym and ACTUALLY go
25. Start Your Own Business
26. Employ Someone
27. Help Someone Achieve Their Dreams
28. Move Out of Your Parents House
29. Lose those extra kilos
30. Retire

Many of you may be interested to know why I have decided to become an entrepreneur as opposed to pursuing a career in a company, or even pursuing a pastoral role in a church. I want to share with you today my personal story of how I decided to become an entrepreneur in the hope that it will explain some things to you and that it will also inspire you to go after your dreams.

I first got the thought that I could go into business for myself when I read a short ebook about a lady who started making money online with $0 startup capital and just 30 days. I read about this and I got really excited. Maybe I could make money online like she did. (You can download her ebook from http://www.searchengineguide.com/ebooks/freeebook.html)

I began along my path of trying to make some money online in the early months of 2007. Never did I know the path it would take me down of wanting to be a full time entrepreneur. I started a blog and started designing some t-shirts to sell. Pretty much my first 18 months of attempting to make money online was full of failure. But I learnt SO MUCH! and I started getting really passionate about seeking after a full time income online.

I then came across a book by Robert G Allen called “The One Minute Millionaire” which I found at the library and again it talked about how a woman went from being in the dumps to earning $1,000,000 in just 90 days. This book so inspired me to learn and to become an entrepreneur that I signed up for Robert G Allens training course (which was a few dollars short of $6,000 all up). This is a 2 year course which I am 6 months into and which covers everything from making money online to real estate, to the stock market. To find out more visit www.multiplestreamsofincome.com

All of this time I had been trying to start blogs and failing miserably at making money from them. My main point of failure was the topic I had chosen for each of my blogs. I had either chosen a topic I didn’t know much about or I had chosen a topic I wasn’t passionate about. It wasn’t until March 2008 that I realised the one topic I am passionate about, constantly learning about and already know a fair bit about. That is finance. I started Fool’s Wealth (which is now Smarter Wealth) and I have been growing my blog ever since.

It has been a slow process for me to become an entrepreneur. It happened as I began to learn more and more about earning money for myself and how to manage that wealth also. It wasn’t until sunday night (2 days ago) that I really decided that this is what I want to do with my life. I don’t just want to run a blog (though that will be part of it) I want to change the world and make it a better place.

I want to do this by training people (both in developed and developing nations) to become entrepreneur and teach them how to create and manage wealth and also teach them how to be generous with their wealth. I believe that this blog is just the beginning of something that will become much bigger than myself.

That is a little outline of how I became an entrepreneur. I know it wasn’t in much detail, however if you want me to share my story in fuller detail please let me know in the comments section below and I will write a much longer bio.

I recently saw a post on www.getrichslowly.com about a man named Randy Pausch who was a proffessor at Carnegie Mellon University who discovered that he had pancreatic cancer and that it was terminal. He only had 3 to 6 months of good health left. After he discovered this he delivered his “last lecture” which was his method of imparting his life lessons to everyone and to make his mark on history.

This presentation became MASSIVE online and was downloaded more than 10 MILLION times. It is entitled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”. I have started watching this lecture (though admittedly I have not watched the whole thing) and it is very inspiring and very well worth watching.

Randy Pausch died on the 25th July 2008 at age 47, yet he continues to live on in the impact he has made on many. I believe this will not only inspire you to fulfill your childhood dreams, but will also inspire you to find ways to make a lasting impact like Randy did

Money is a big deal in society today and it can buy you a lot of things. However, there are some things money cannot buy you and there are some things I have today that money could have never bought me.

Money is not the be all and end all of life. No one gets to the end of their life and thinks to themselves. Boy I wish I had more money. They think things like “I wish I was more generous”, “I wish I had better relationships”, “I wish I told my kids I loved them more”. There are things in life that have a higher value than money and sometimes we forget about them

I want to share with you some of the priceless items in my life:

1. Relationship With God
This is the one thing that I am most thankful for in my life and no amount of money can compare to it. I am saved by the grace of God which is a free gift and I live in relationship with God. If people ask me “Are you religious” I saw no because I am not religious, but I do have a RELATIONSHIP with God. In fact I give money to church, not because I have to but because I love God.

2. Great Relationships
Great relationships are the most valuable thing in my life (second to my relationship with God). I have great relationships with my family, with my friends and with my girlfriend which I am extremely thankful for. Often money is a reason relationships are destroyed, however I like to use my money to build my relationships. Money cannot buy you great relationships, they are earnt through hard work and build upon trust, but money can be used to make them better.

3. An Optimistic Outlook
I have an extremely optimistic outlook on life, which sometimes gets me into trouble because I need to face reality. But I am very grateful for this. I do not have it because I have a great situation where I am rich and have no problems. But I have an optimistic outlook because I chose years ago that I would look for the good in every situation no matter how bad it was. You cannot buy this you have to choose to have an optimistic attitude.

4. A Purpose Driven Life
My life is driven by purpose. In the Bible God say “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” That is how I am going to live. I am going to prosper and I have a hope and a future. I am driven to achieve success because I know that my life has purpose. I have a dream bigger than myself and this pushes me forward. You cannot buy this, you have to find it for yourself

6. Fulfillment
I am fulfilled in everything that I do. I do my best to help people, I am pursuing a career that I love and enjoy (writing and finances) and I believe that my life will make a great positive impact on the world. I have fulfillment in my life and no amount of money can ever give me that. You need to earn it.

So there are just a few things in my life which are priceless and which no amount of money can buy (though by using money it can help improve these thing). Now I want to hear what is priceless in your life. What is something in your life which you love and which no amount of money could buy?

This is a press release to announce that smarterwealth.net has now released a online money tips newsletter which has great tips and insights on how to make money online. If you sign up today for the newsletter you will also receive the free report “How to Make Money Online From Scratch” which was previously for sale.

I encourage all my readers to sign up today by entering their name and email into the form in the sidebar of this site ———————>

I WILL NEVER SPAM YOU. This newsletter is sent out weekly offering you great tips for making money online, and I will sometimes send you other emails when I feel there is something special you need to know about. So sign up today and enjoy

I am looking at running a competition next month and I was wondering if anyone could help me on HOW exactly to run one.
The things I want to achieve from my competition is

• Increase Traffic
• Increase Reader Involvement (Comments)
• Increase RSS subscribers

I was thinking of doing a draw and having each comment equal one entry, and an RSS subscription equal 10 entries.

I have a few questions though. Firstly how can you find out who exactly signed up for your RSS feed? How do you find out their name and their email? Is there a way to do this?

Any other help on how to run a competition on my site please let me know

I love photography. I have been very good at photography since high school. But since starting this blog in March, photography has been put on the back shelf for a while. However, I intend to pull out my digital camera, dust it off and begin to make some easy residual income from my photography. I have decided to begin turning my hobby for photography into a money making stream of income

Cashflow is my goal. I want to have more money coming in each month. I don’t want to make heaps of money straight up just a few extra dollars here and there (enough to land one cheque per month) to help with my expenses and my savings. I have not started this yet and the information I offer you is not a money making scheme it is simply a plan which I am trying to employ to make some extra cash from my hobby (and something I am really good at).

1. Sell my Photos on iStockPhotography
The goal of this is to create residual income, so I can take the photos, upload them and then just let the money come in with no extra work. www.istockphotography.com is the perfect place for me to achieve. They have a huge database of photos and a massive audience of buyers who like to buy these photos to use for their companies. iStock do all of the marketing (people find your photos through keywords) and then they make all the sales and do all the customer service. Then I get a cut of the money each time my pictures sell.

2. I am Going to Focus on Business Photos
Generally I have been a landscape photographer, however these do not sell on iStock. Because it is generally business that will buy your photos to use in their marketing campaigns, not everyday people who want some art on their wall. So I will be taking some creative photos which will be focused towards business. Photos of things such as computers, business people, relationships, coffee, other products. This way I can focus on the audience that has the money and hopefully make the most sales.

3. This is a Gradual Strategy
The great thing with iStock is that you can sell your photos over and over again to new businesses looking to market their products. I have actually seen the same photo used in KFC ads as I have seen used to market a Bible College near where I live. Because of this I can use this as a gradual strategy to build residual income. Each month I will take a couple of photos worthy of selling to businesses. Every month I will add a few photos to the website, giving myself more exposure to businesses and increasing my sales through diversity. As I continue to ad more photos then my income will slowly grow over time.

So there you have it. I am going to turn my hobby for photography into a money making stream of income and the best thing is once I have taken the photos and uploaded them then they can earn me money for years to come.