Many people believe it is impossible to build wealth unless you have a well-paid job and no debt, but that is not so. Almost anyone can start building wealth with a little discipline and lots of motivation. There is nearly always some way of saving an extra few dollars, even if it means we go without something we really want. Before purchasing the next item you want, ask yourself if you really need it. Is it necessary for life? If it’s not, maybe you could save the money instead - or use it to pay off that credit card debt.

While no one wants to go back to the days when life was a great deal simpler - no TV, cell phones computers, iPods or MP3 players - it is still possible to have an enjoyable life without most of these things. And the kids would certainly learn to read a lot better. Remember that you usually have to choose between having extra possessions and creating wealth for yourself.

So before you buy that latest gadget or upgrade something that still works perfectly well, think about building wealth instead. Placing that money in a high-interest savings account until you have enough money to invest will certainly begin your wealth creation path. And one day, you’ll be glad you did it.

Along the way, you may make a few investing mistakes, however there are big mistakes that you absolutely must avoid if you are to be a successful investor. For instance, the biggest investing mistake that you could ever make is to not invest at all, or to put off investing until later. Make your money work for you – even if all you can spare is $20 a week to invest!

While not investing at all or putting off investing until later are big mistakes, investing before you are in the financial position to do so is another big mistake. Get your current financial situation in order first, and then start investing. Get your credit cleaned up, pay off high interest loans and credit cards, and put at least three months of living expenses in savings. Once this is done, you are ready to start letting your money work for you.

Don’t invest to get rich quick. That is the riskiest type of investing that there is, and you will more than likely lose. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it! Instead, invest for the long term, and have the patience to weather the storms and allow your money to grow. Only invest for the short term when you know you will need the money in a short amount of time, and then stick with safe investments, such as certificates of deposit.

Don’t put all of your eggs into one basket. Scatter it around various types of investments for the best returns. Also, don’t move your money around too much. Let it ride. Pick your investment products carefully, invest your money, and allow it to grow – don’t panic if the stock drops a few dollars. If the stock is a stable stock, it will go back up.

A common mistake that a lot of people make is thinking that their investments in collectibles will really pay off. Again, if this were true, everyone would do it. Don’t count on your Coke collection or your book collection to pay for your retirement years! Count on investments made with cold hard cash instead.

Everyone dreams of being wealthy enough to do whatever they want; own lots of possessions, live in a fantastic house and travel overseas in style and luxury. But to do this, building wealth must be worked at. It’s not as hard as it might seem, though. Most people who have a job are paid a good wage in comparison to years ago. The trouble now is that we expect our quality of life to reflect that good wage, so we end up spending most of it instead of adopting a save and invest approach.

No one can build wealth if they go out and spend every cent they make. Building wealth means you must firstly make money, then you must save it - and lastly, you need to put your savings to work for you so that they will make even more money. Many people chase that get-rich-quick dream that they’ve heard about. It becomes like a tantalizing carrot held in front of a donkey’s nose. And those who chase it are donkeys - asses in fact, to spend all their money chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Real wealth creation takes time and money - and patience to build. Firstly you need to put your focus on making more money. It might be possible for you to get another part-time job as well as the one you have. Or perhaps with a bit of effort in the study department, you could get another rung up the ladder and be paid more.

If this is the case, you would be well advised to continue living as you’ve done in the past and invest all that extra money, at least for a few years. Don’t make the mistake of upgrading to a more expensive home or buying a new car. These things will not bring in money; they take it away. Another trap is to repay yourself for all that hard work by spending more money on leisure activities such as expensive holidays or eating out more often. Sure, a little reward might be in order, but don’t make a habit of it.

Once you’ve started to make more money, make sure you save it into the best investment possible. That means it should be earning the highest interest possible, in the safest way possible. An e-saver account could be one of the best solutions. They offer high interest with no or low fees. If you are an impulse spender, then put it into a term deposit so you cannot spend it. Once you see the interest piling up, it will motivate you to keep on saving.

The third step in building wealth is to invest in stocks and shares, but never put all your money at risk. You might be happy to have a high risk - high return investment, but don’t do it with all your money. Keep some safely stashed away in a really safe form of investment. Soon you’ll begin to see that compounding interest is what really builds wealth.

Experts tell us that the only way to build wealth is to invest. While saving your money in a bank account is good, it is not investing. The interest rates offered by banks or other financial institutions are not enough to really build wealth. Here are seven other ways to build wealth.

1. Investing. While we know that there is risk in buying stocks and shares, traditionally they always go up over time. To avoid the worry of whether you’ve bought at the right time, put aside a small amount of money to buy shares every month or two (see comments below). This will even out the lows and highs.

2. Compounding interest is getting interest on your interest. It means that an investment will double in seven* years if you get 10% interest on it and keep on reinvesting it.

3. If you own a house and rent it out, you’ll get the benefit of your fortnightly rent as well as the capital appreciation over several years. But remember to invest the rent - and sell the property at the right time for capital gains. The maintenance you have on real estate makes it not the best investment ever.

4. There is good debt and bad debt. You can use debt for investment and the interest will be tax deductible as in leveraging. Stay away from credit card debt as that is a hazard to your wealth.

5. Saving will build wealth if you remember to do it before you pay the bills rather than after. If you find you have nothing left to save, it’s because you’ve spent it all first. Write down all your expenditure for one week and see how much you’ve just wasted.

6. To lessen tax, buy shares in a company that pays dividends. That money has been taxed before you get it, so you are given tax credits that you can apply to your other income.

7. Diversity is the keyword when investing. If someone drops that basket all your eggs are in, they’ll all get broken. But if you only had one egg out of twelve in it, then your other eleven eggs are safe. True diversity is hard for a novice to achieve investing, so use a managed fund.

Everyone can build wealth if they put their minds to it. Kids these days learn how to trade shares at school. They are the lucky ones if they put their knowledge to use. But you can still learn how to do it without that benefit. Many people have started out with nothing and built wealth up over the years. You just have to put your mind to it.

There are several ways in which you can invest to build wealth that takes care of your financial needs, and what you choose will need to suit your own personal goals and circumstances. Choosing the correct investment strategy will help you to build wealth in the safest and quickest way possible.

Depositing your money in a bank will keep it safe and help you build wealth, but how do you choose which type of account to put it in? If you have a lump sum that you won’t need to access, then a fixed term deposit may be the solution. The term you choose can be anything from a month to three years. When you deposit money into a fixed term account, you cannot access it until the term is up without forfeiting your good rate of interest. But at least you know that interest rate will stay the same until your term is up.

An electronic account is also an excellent choice for those who have Internet access. These types of accounts usually attract no fees, but you need to have another account linked to it so that you can access your money. Access need not be only via the Internet, but in most cases by phone as well. Electronic accounts offer an excellent rate of interest and allow you to take advantage of compound interest as it is calculated daily and added monthly.

Most banks offer the chance to invest in managed funds. Investing in a managed fund will help you to build wealth faster without the effort and time required to manage your investments yourself. You can depend on the bank’s professional fund managers to do the best investing for you that is possible in the current financial climate.

If you prefer to have more control over your investments, then you might choose a more direct option of investing, available through many banks. They still offer a range of tools that you can use, along with investment advice and research that you can choose to follow or not.

Building wealth is not that difficult - all it takes is the decision to start doing so, and the journey on from there can be one of fulfillment and satisfaction. Once you start building wealth, you’ll find that it becomes easier as your knowledge base increases and soon you’ll find that money worries are a thing of the past.

One of the biggest fears most of us have is losing our money. After working long and hard to earn it, that is only natural, but it is one thing that prevents some people from investing in the share market. Everyone who watches the news will see how the value of shares in even blue chip companies seems to rise and fall like the ocean tide recently. As soon as values fall, many shareholders start looking to sell their shares and get out before they lose any more.

Experts in stock broking tell us that we should do the opposite, making this fear our friend instead of the enemy. In other words, investors should look to increase their investment portfolio in times when the bottom seems to be falling out of the market. Buying real estate property when the value is low is what the experts do; they know that the market will gradually rise again and they’ll be able to sell for a better profit than if they bought when the price was high.

So buying shares when they are of low value makes sense. Traditionally, the share market has kept on rising, even though there are periods of lows, just like in the real estate cycle of boom, plateau and fall. A wise investor will jump in and buy up all those low value stocks and shares when everyone else is scrambling to get off what they perceive as a sinking ship. He will get them for a low price and then the value will start to rise again, making his investment worth far more than it would have been if he bought in times when the share market is booming.

Stock broking experts tell us the oldest rule for investing is to buy low and sell high. The easiest way to do this is to buy during a recession, when the prices are low. An investment portfolio set up during such a time is sure to be a profitable one because it has two sources of increase. As the recession loses its momentum and the economy picks up, the value of the stocks and shares will increase. And there will be the natural growth increase of the companies they invest in. So next time the share market news seems to be all doom and gloom, make fear your friend and buy a few of those low-priced shares to add to your investment portfolio.

Great investors surely have investing secrets that they use to

build wealth, but they are open secrets. Anyone can find out what the greats do and copy them to have success in wealth creation. And many of the so-called secrets are simply common sense principles.

For instance, investing in a company with consistent earnings is the sensible thing to do and one that has helped Warren Buffet earn his millions. Taking care to invest in old and well-established companies is another. Many investors run into trouble by jumping on the bandwagon of some new company that sparkles for a while then quickly dies out leaving a pile of rubble rather than money.

Another common sense principle that is applied to both real estate and shares by the great investors is to never pay too much for an investment. Generally the more you pay, the less you get back as many real estate investors have found out to their cost. Warren Buffet also believes in concentration rather than diversification. When he buys a company he typically buys around 80%, and keeps it.

Another secret investment principle Buffet favours that has helped him with his wealth creation is to buy companies with experienced managers and keep them on to do what they do best - run the company. Buffet rarely interferes with the running of the companies he buys. He simply compliments the managers on the job they are doing. Buffet's talent is to see where good investments are and buy them, not run the company.

Checking out the management philosophy of a successful business is another secret. Knowing that the manager cares more about the company than the price it brings has worked for Buffet. He studies the character of the company managers before making a decision to buy the company.

Finding a company whose manager is frugal and cares about costs is an important secret of great investors. They know that one way to build wealth is to spend less and managers who run a consistently tight ship are the successful ones.

While some investors feel that a younger manager will enhance a company�s ability to move with the times and make more money, Buffet prefers to retain the successful manager well past the legal retiring age. He considers that experience is the key word when it comes to managers. Setting high standards and keeping them may seem unnecessary to many, but it has seen many great investors build wealth where others fail. We would do well to take on board some of these secrets for ourselves.

Michael Phelps is set to earns billions over the next few years after his unprecedented performance in the Beijing Olympic "Water Cube" pool where he won eight gold medals to surpass the tally of seven gold medals won by his compatriot Mark Spitz in swimming in 1972.

As the greatest ever Olympian what would you do with the money? I don’t think he would merely place the majority of his earnings into a term deposit account to save for an overseas holiday or a deposit for a new home, do you? He could potentially buy most small banks or small countries so I don’t think that forms part of his long term financial plan.

If you were Michael Phelps, how would you spend the cash?

Traditionally, men were the big earners in society. They received the best education and so were able to grab the best jobs. Further down the track women have moved into managerial positions, but often not for the same remuneration that a man would have received. While this creates a wealth gap between the sexes, traditionalism is fast going out the door and women are now both getting good jobs and being paid what they are worth. In fact, statistics show that the wealth gap between the sexes is closing rapidly - at least in western countries.

At the moment, women tend to leave money on the table when it comes to wealth creation, due to the fact that they are not so well educated about investing. They live longer than men, but they are often not paid as much, so this increases the wealth gap between the sexes. Where women have taken the trouble and interest to educate themselves in the area of wealth management, they have done a better job of making money than many men. This is due to their more conservative nature. They’ve worked hard to get financial and they don’t want to lose it buying risky shares. They buy something safe and leave their money there.

Men, on the other hand, tend to be more daring with wealth creation. They are not so careful about researching the companies they invest with and they buy and sell quickly in an attempt to chase the big money. But they get their fingers burnt more often than they make a profit. According to statistics, the number of wealthy women in North America grew by 48%, while in the same time frame, wealthy men only increased by 36%.

Another point in women’s favour is simply their nature. In general, they are more patient than men. This is an advantage in wealth management, because investments take time to increase and it takes patience to sit on the sidelines and watch them grow. Those who are impatient want to see faster growth, so they tend to chase the hot tips of the day. But in many cases, the cost of frequent buying and selling outweighs any advantage.

Most women can manage their day-to-day finances very well. In fact, according to some experts, they are highly skilled at budgeting and finding ways to reduce spending. This is really important, since women traditionally don’t usually earn as much as men do. Where their skills don’t match up to those of the menfolk is in the areas of investment and retirement savings. Nor do they understand financial terminology as well as men. But they are eager to learn and should make every effort to do so if they are to take full control of their financial future.

Reports show that many women don’t feel that money is necessary to be happy in life. And while this sentiment is admirable, it is also likely to cause them to have less money than they need as they get older and cannot work. If women were to work on building up their confidence in investing, they would find that the stress and boredom of handling money in this way would be gone and they would soon be able to see all the benefits.

Women have gradually broken down many male dominated barriers in the past; now they need to hone their skills in the area of money management and investments. But first they must change their attitudes. Money is not the be-all and end-all of life, but we do need a certain amount of it. And it’s only wise to work towards protecting your future. Women live longer than men, so they cannot expect to have a man around into their old age to take care of finances for them.

Those people who have managed to acquire - or inherit - a large amount of wealth know that it needs to be looked after to avoid loss. There is nothing so easy as spending money if you have plenty, so the first thing you need to do is be sure that your wealth is actually increasing rather than decreasing. Unless certain procedures for wealth protection are followed you may wake up one fine morning to find creditors knocking on your door.

One way to ensure your millions actually increase rather than decrease is to take advantage of private retail banking. Private banking is when a bank creates products especially for the needs of the high net worth individual, rather than simply offering commercial products already available. Other services in private banking include special wealth management advice, as well as financial planning suited to the needs of the individual. This should not be confused with private banks that are not incorporated.

Special estate planning is also necessary to protect and maximise the goals of the owner. This will include making sure that your intended beneficiaries do actually get what you want them to get, with a minimum loss to taxes and other costs. It is especially necessary for minor children to be looked after correctly. And you need to have plans in place in case of incapacity in old age.

Legal resources and special taxation advice are necessary for those with millions; otherwise they could see the taxman scoot off with most of their money. Legal advice from those who are specially trained in advising high net worth individuals is necessary. An ordinary solicitor or accountant would not have the experience or training to do what is necessary. To sum up, wealth management includes using tailored banking services, special investment management, estate planning, taxation advice and special legal resources.