Dare to Change Life Coaching & Mentoring

Tag: financial success

  • Bitcoin, Blockchain and Your Investment Strategy

    Bitcoin, Blockchain and Your Investment Strategy

    I recently heard about a report that stated that 30% of millennials would invest in bitcoins instead of stocks (I refer to established, successful publicly traded companies) in order to secure their retirement. Not only that… they would be willing to use their credit cards to buy the bitcoins! This information was quite shocking to me and I felt compelled to write this article.

    But before I get into specifics of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies world, I want to curb your ambition to become a cryptocurrencies millionaire. I am not saying it’s impossible (yes, there are Bitcoin millionaires). I just want to show you a bigger picture of where Bitcoin and other  cryptocurrencies fit into your investment portfolio.

    Role of Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies in your Investment Portfolio

    Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ether, dash, blah, blah, blah can be considered to be chaos hedge. Chaos hedge is a portion of your investment portfolio that acts as a form of insurance against things like market crashes, financial system collapse (when banks are closed/insolvent), global economic shocks caused by wars, massive natural disasters, etc. Having some chaos hedges, such as gold, silver, and cryptocurrencies, provides downside protection for your investment portfolio.

    However, most cryptocurrencies are very speculative investments because out of 1000 or so existing cryptocurrencies, likely over 90% are Ponzi schemes according to a few savvy investors I follow. So, you’ve been warned: If you want to dive into a super-speculative world of cryptocurrencies, especially outside of Bitcoin (which is currently considered to be the most recognized, “reserve currency” for buying other cryptos), you must do your due diligence before buying them.

    On the other hand, there are setups in the cryptocurrencies’ market that could give you high gains within next six to 12 months.  I call it smart speculation. When used correctly, smart speculations offer the opportunity for substantial gains, even in conservative investment portfolios. The key here is to allocate a small percentage of your investment portfolio into the smart speculation holding.

    Now, a brief overview of what Bitcoin is and why you may want to consider owning some.

    Bitcoin: Brief Overview

    Bitcoin is the most widely used open-source (not proprietary owned) peer-to-peer cryptocurrency that you can send over the Internet without a bank or a middleman. It is also a storage of value, finite value to be precised. Only 21 million bitcoins will ever be created. They have value somewhere between zero and a very large number (some predict $500K per bitcoin) and the value is determined by the demand of the Bitcoin network users.

    Bitcoin is a “native of the internet”, and thus it is digital in its entirety, although very few physical bitcoins  were manufactured by Casascius,  the coin company, before they were stopped by regulators.  There are technical reasons why it doesn’t make sense to use bitcoin to pay for small transactions. However, owning bitcoin does make sense as an asset for people who want to store value of something that can be traded for something else in the future.

    For example, you don’t trust banks or you’re worried about a natural disaster and want to have some cash available. Some people put cash in a mattress, or in a safe. But you can also put it in something attributed to you that shows that you have something of value that you can use in the future. Yes, it’s somewhat similar to gold, the traditional storage of value. And similarly to gold, you can store value in bitcoin by converting fiat currencies into bitcoin.

    With Bitcoin, the original alleged developer Satoshi Nakamoto, set out to create a “peer-to-peer electronic cash system”. There is much mystery around the true identity of the original Bitcoin creator. There are rumors that whoever Satoshi Nakamoto actually holds roughly 1 million bitcoins, worth approximately $11.6 billion based on the recent prices ($11, 600/Bitcoin).

    One of the big innovations of Bitcoin was creating a system that did not rely on trusted third parties to process electronic payments; instead it relies on the consensus of the “bitcoin miners” on the network (sometimes referred as computer nodes).

    Bitcoin is a currency which supply cannot be altered by any central bank or government. That might not seem like as big of a deal in countries like the U.S., or U.K. but in places like Zimbabwe and Venezuela that have experienced hyper-inflation due to excessive money printing by corrupt governments, this is of greater concern.

    Blockchain technology

    The truth is that cryptocurrencies’ rise in popularity is largely attributed to a new innovative technology that is used for trading cryptocurrencies – “blockchain”, which is considered to be revolutionary, just like the Internet was in the 90-s.

    Many people say “I don’t know about bitcoin, but I believe in blockchain.” That could be because many people don’t believe in bitcoin but believe in Blockchain technology.  So, what the hell is Blockchain?

    Blockchain is a digital distributed public ledger, but it’s really a strong cryptography (based on mathematics). And just in case you are not familiar with the word cryptography, it’s the art of protecting information by transforming it (encrypting it) into an unreadable format. Only those who possess a secret key can decrypt the message into plain text. Cryptography is used to protect credit card information, corporate data, etc.

    Recent advance of Bitcoin and recognition by financial communities

    On December 17th,2017, the CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange), the world’s largest futures (future contracts) exchange, launched its own bitcoin futures contract under the ticker “BTC.” One CME futures contract represents five bitcoins.

    You may know that there are plenty of well-known critics of Bitcoin in the banking and business worlds. Specifically, Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co., called the cryptocurrency a “fraud” and said it would blow up. However, Mr Dimon recently said in a TV interview on the business cable network that he regrets calling it a fraud.

    There are more and more investors and even hedge fund managers jump on the Bitcoin wagon. Bitcoin has had a phenomenal bullish run in 2017, rising from $966 at the start of the year to a record high of over $20, 000. While the price of the Bitcoin failed since its highs in 2017, many expect that the cryptocurrencies prices are going to climb up further.

    If you want to learn more about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as well as how you can buy, store, send and receive cryptocurrencies, I invite you to join my upcoming masterclass Bitcoin, Your Money and Building Wealth.

    This training offers a comprehensive approach to investing in cryptocurrencies – from understanding what it is and how it works, to how to buy, store, send and receive it, to how to manage your risk. While I cannot give you a specific advice or promise profits from any of your investments, I can promise that by  the end of this masterclass you will be in a good position to make a decision  weather you want to invest in cryptocurrencies and what to do next.

    To Your Health, Wealth and Freedom.

    With Love and Gratitude,

    Millen Livis

    P.S. I have a crazy good offer for this training if you sign up for this masterclass before February 1st, 2018

    Sign up  HERE for Bitcoin, Your Money and Building Wealth.

  • Life Defining Moments: How They Change the Trajectory of Your Life

    Life Defining Moments: How They Change the Trajectory of Your Life

    “I am sorry, but your baby girl is unlikely to survive.” I was in my early 20s, a young mama who just received the worst possible news after being in excruciating labor pain. My then husband was miles away. I had to make a decision about my firstborn – fight or accept this fate. Stubborn me, I refused to accept doctors’ forecast and decided to do whatever it takes to save my baby. WHATEVER. IT. TAKES. While other mothers enjoyed spending time with their newborns, I couldn’t even hold her in my arms until I signed off the release document and took her home under my own responsibility. She was one month old….

    This was one of my biggest life-defining moments.

    My next defining moment was a decision to leave the country of origin. You see, I was born and grew up in what used to be called USSR – a place where personal freedom, legal system and respect for human rights didn’t have the same meaning as in the US. Massive corruption, discrimination, and lack of respect for personal dignity made me feel suffocated.  I didn’t see my future in this country and decided to leave, somehow. My desire for personal freedom was bigger than fear of unknown. We left EVERYTHING (family, friends, home, bank accounts) and traveled across several countries without passports and money (that’s’ what soviets did to those who challenged them).

    This was indeed another life-defining moment…

    We traveled through Austria and Italy, surviving with odd job here and there, until we received a visa to come to the US. My first job in the US was a minimum-wage florist assistant. I was soooo grateful to be able to support my family while learning English. Then I decided that I want to work on Wall Street. It seemed like impossible goal at first. But the compound effect of many small steps, determination, and patience led me to a prestigious professional career, working for major Wall Street companies.

    But corporate America is not a good fit for independent thinkers and self-starters. You are expected to conform. I started to feel stuck, feel like I was dying inside… My work lost meaning to me and a comfortable 6-figure salary was not enough to compensate for the emptiness inside. I reached the tipping point… and left. And not only I left my work but my 22-year marriage as well. Was I scared? TERRIFIED! But strangely, I also felt EXCITED that I finally could create the life on my terms.

    These 2 decisions – to leave my marriage and my job – happened at the same time and were yet another defining moment in my life….

    You know that a road to success is always under construction. My road to success was still uncharted. After I graduated from the prestigious business school, I couldn’t find a job (at this time, it was an economic crisis in the US) and struggled financially. I started an investment company and failed miserably while managing my business partners’ investments. But that was not all. I became depressed and felt like a total FAILURE. My identity was linked to my job/business, marriage, my social status and all of it was suddenly GONE. I felt ALONE, BROKE, and BROKEN.  I didn’t see any future for myself. The only option left was… to surrender.

    With all the other challenges that I had in my life, this one was the most painful. Yes, I can say that this was THE Defining moment. It became my awakening experience – I had to embrace my humility, my flaws and imperfections. I’ve learned to appreciate stillness, choose what to focus on, pay attention to my thinking patterns. I’ve done a LOT of inner work, became more loving and compassionate. And yes, once I became more connected and aware, I finally created my financial independence.

    This brings me to my final (most recent one) defining moment – a decision to become a financial empowerment mentor for women. I chose to use my story – both failures and successes – and compiled all my experiences into a winning strategy that I call The Millen-aire Method. I now share this 4-dimensional Wealth Building strategy with other powerful women who are not willing to settle for anything less than extraordinary lives.

    That’s a short rundown of my life’s defining moments. As you can see, what you have and where you are now doesn’t define WHO you are and WHERE you can be.

    How about you? What is YOUR most recent defining moment?

    Until next time… Stay Empowered!

    With Love and Gratitude,

    Millen Livis

  • Working with Financial Advisers and Why You Must Become Financially Empowered

    Working with Financial Advisers and Why You Must Become Financially Empowered

    My intention and my mission is to shift the money game from an “adviser-centered” model to a “customer-centered” model. Let me clarify what I mean here.

    You have likely used, are currently using or plan to use a financial adviser or a financial planner. And I am not saying you shouldn’t – it’s not my place to say what you should or shouldn’t do. However, I know too many people who got burned by using financial adviser and lost thousands, some even hundreds of thousands of dollars… So, why is it happening?

    Well, one of the reasons is that when these people went to see the adviser, they were not really financially educated about their investment options. They delegated managing their money to a person who presumably is trained and licensed to give the best available financial advice as a fiduciary of their money. Right? Well, in theory… yes. In real life – rarely.

    You see, the current financial services model has a financial adviser at the center of the financial services’ sphere and a customer – outside of it. When the customer doesn’t know her/his available options or doesn’t even know what questions to ask, the natural inclination is to listen and follow the adviser since s/he ‘knows better’ by the fact that it’s what the advisers do.

    However, the caveat here is that financial advisers are no really impartial since they get paid by the financial institutions (banks, brokerage companies, other financial service companies), who issue the financial products that the advisers are selling to you. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon that financial advisers recommend financial instruments that’s/he will receive the most commissions for.

    Not only I know many people who had such experiences with financial advisers, I myself had such experiences. At first, when I met my adviser, I liked him because he listened to me, he proposed to review my estate plan, my retirement goals, etc. This liking made me feel relaxed and… buy the suggested financial products (variable index annuity) and outsource the management of my investment portfolio to his team…

    Well, after losing thousands of dollars and realizing the discrepancy between his promises and my actual experience, I got back the control of my financial portfolio yet was still stuck with the multi-year contract on the financial products I bought through him. by the way, advisers are often get paid for each year you hold the financial product they sold you.

    This frustrating experience and my frank conversations with some advisers made me realize how much power regular folks give away because they lack basic financial education and feel ‘not good enough’ at managing and investing their own money. An assumption that ‘financial professionals’ know best how to invest your money often leads to tremendous frustration and financial losses.

    You see, each of us develops patterns – patterns of thinking and acting – including money-related patterns. Every pattern is caused by a set of assumptions. For example, your assumption that you are not good at managing your money (e.g. because someone told you that or because you mismanaged your money in the past) will likely create a pattern of thinking and acting according to this assumption.

    And assuming something as a fact, whether it’s true or not, is caused by your perceptions of past experiences. For example, you’ve saved money and owned financial assets, then you got into a relationship with a person who has unhealthy money habits, which led to a loss of all your savings. As a result, your perception could be that you are not a smart money manager or that you are not meant to be wealthy.

    Another example: you’ve invested money in the stock market that you saved for the down-payment on a house because you wanted to grow it, but market dropped, and you lost a lot of money… As the result, your perception could be that investing in the stock market is a gamble and you’re better off keeping all you money in cash.

    As you can see from these not so hypothetical examples, your perceptions of your past experiences lead to assumptions, which then lead to your patterns of thinking and acting, and ultimately, to your experiences.

    That’s why I am convinced that before you get into the “outer game” of money (dealing with your debt, your spending, savings and investing),  you must attend to your ‘inner game’ – take a close and honest look at your current beliefs about money, your abilities to manage it and your beliefs about becoming financially free.

    Strengthening your inner ecology – your belief system, your inner monologue, your self-confidence and self-competence – will seamlessly shift your energy from a state of repelling money to a state of attracting wealth effortlessly. You’ll get equipped with making savvy money decisions and taking smart decisive actions.

    And if you’ve tried different money mindset boot-camps, seminars, all kinds of affirmations and afformations yet nothing worked thus far… it’s because your heart and soul are not there…because you don’t really believe that these affirmations are true for YOU. Your perceptions of previous experiences led to erroneous assumptions that might be slowing you down or even preventing you from living the life you want, deserve and are capable of.

    That is exactly the reason I’ve created the Activate Effortless Wealth mentoring training. This is a compilation of my decades-long knowledge and experience about mastering the “inner game”, which affects your financial situation, your relationships, your work and health. Yes, the inner game is the foundation of your success in life.

    And not only you’ll get access to the valuable information I offer (no, you cannot google it LOL ), you’ll have me by your side for over 10 weeks and 3 full days during the LIVE Workshop in Florida. And from my personal experience, having an empowering mentor, guide and supporter by your side on your journey to creating the life you want is priceless. Yes, you may get there on your own… eventually. However, working together with me as a team, will accelerate your results 10X.

    And here is the final thought. I can certainly help you become unstoppable in your pursuit of more ease, more money, more peace of mind, and more abundance in your life. However, I cannot choose it for you. You need to decide whether YOU are ready to CHOOSE YOURSELF and up-level your life situation. Life is too precious and too short to postpone your plans until next month, or next year, or when XYZ will happen.

    So, are you ready to CHOOSE YOURSELF?

    Let me know… Until then, STAY EMPOWERED.

    With Love and Gratitude,

    Millen Livis