Just curious - would you want to learn how money works? Should I build, or teach?
 

I'm deciding whether or not to pursue an old passion of mine. I retired at the age of 26, but due to the financial market and some bad decisions and bad timing, I came back to work. This however won't be a super long stint as the lessons learned en route to my first fortune are things that I can leverage on the way to my second. It's not a matter of "If" so much as "when"...

I thought that teaching others how to make money was truly the only way to become wealthy once again. I really believed that in serving others, you helped yourself. However the decision I'm trying to make is I know have acquired knowledge and started projects that do not require me to help others make money anymore. I can solo it - just a lone wolf and quietly quickly rebuild.

The thing that pains me is that I do miss showing others concepts that put the financially ahead of the game, but I now have 2 young children, and wanting to spend more time with family - I can't run as many projects anymore as I used to.

So it's a decision I've got to make now.

Do I

A) Make a fortune faster on my own (but sacrifice my enjoyment of teaching others)
B) Run all of the projects simultaneously (not sure if this is feasible, and if I run too many, I run the risk of failing everything simultaneously)
C) Continue teaching others and stalling my own goals to rebuild?

It's a selfish thought - I understand, but the thought crossed my mind that once I've rebuilt - it will be easier to go back to teaching afterwards with capital to spare, and more donations to charity after I reach my goals once again.

I suppose another option could be

D) Teach someone and get them to teach others, but I've tried this and it's difficult to train one person EVERYTHING. I'm not saying that I'm smarter - it took me a LONG time, and a lot of reading and research to earn the stripes and scars I've found out along the way. I just fail faster than most - so eventually finding the path is inevitable.

At this point I'm just rambling - but I've always gotten good feedback and advice from others here. Is it truly the better option to "put on your mask before assisting others" (airplane safety talk) or is it more enriching to build people along with you?

Please don't read into this as arrogance - that I know more than others so it's my "duty" to teach. It's just that someone took the time to teach me, and I feel like I'm not doing my part unless I repay the favor onwards. Being torn in two directions means that I'm moving in neither direction, and being in a stuck state... well... sucks. Nothing gets done, and nobody wins.

If I had the ability, i would build my financial independence first and then go back to teaching.

This.

And please teach me once you're done.

I'd pay for your seminar if you hold one.

Rebeuild your own fortune. When this is done you will have even more experience to pass on to a newer protege.

Your ideas intrigue me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

It's easier to get into teaching when you have credentials, and good credentials include recent credentials, which, in your case, would be a recent track record. Prove that you can make money in this market, and then teach others how to do it.

Maybe maintain a blog tracking your progress. If you do it well enough, you could make money on the blog as well. I'm currently studying for the CSC, so I'd be interested in reading something like that.

Focus on your family's financial well-being first. Make sure you're not over-worked. You have a whole lifetime ahead of you, there should be time for you to teach in your second retirement.

Thanks so much for everyone's suggestions.

I wonder if it would be possible to start a locked forum - or perhaps I'll just set up a private blog where I can teach others a few techniques to really get you ahead. It would sate my "need" to share, while creating content and receiving feedback that would really help in building the course for the next generation. I can always start with the super basics, and just move forward in advancement until people were ready to take the next step. Would that be useful to anyone here?

Just as a side note however, I do not currently hold any financial licenses - however that was done on purpose in my original planning. I have studied the courses, and can challenge the tests at any time, but hanging up my license in a shop restricts me to only selling products from that particular shop. For example - someone with their Mutual Fund License at TD Bank cannot sell you anything from say CIBC, HSBC, or Bank of America. I'd like the freedom to share with clients the BEST options without getting consistently fired from a financial institution, or put that license in jeopardy. What I have done however is set up my network in each of the major centers to give me access to the products (a licensed rep from the source helps you) and I'd earn more money selling the books/videos/whatever once they were done. Naturally, I'd donate a good chunk to charity as the teaching is really more for pleasure than anything else. (oh, that and the TFP naturally)

Another question I've got for the group: Would it be more interesting if I shared a few more advanced methods off the hop, or just stuck to the basics?
As an example of a more advanced course, I can teach a technique that turns $5000 into a cash flow of $6000-$12000 per year utilizing tax savings and a GIC style investment (I know, you're wondering how the hell a GIC can give that good of a return - well it can't - hence why I have to teach the technique).

Or on the more basic side, I just teach techniques on simple tax savings that can bring back $3000-$5000 a year (for Canadians). I'd have to run the numbers through some of my accountant contacts in the U.S. to see what the averages are there, but I'd presume that it would be fairly close as it's not a rocket science type system. In fact, most of the basic stuff is sitting right on the CRA and IRS websites in plain view in regards to what works and what doesn't work in tax savings.

Is any of this stuff valuable to anyone here? I mean, the purpose would be for me to bounce the teaching style off of you, in exchange for feedback. I don't charge a thing for the actual knowledge to anyone on the closed forum/blog - and I get a better product in the end. (naturally it'd be on trust that you don't distribute what I'd eventually sell in the future as a course).

At least with something like this, I don't have the crazy stage speaking schedule as well, so I can stay home with my kids more too. (blogs and videos can just be read and watched at your leisure). Halx? Mods? I'm not sure if this fits here or not. Otherwise, I'll go figure out wordpress and start from there. Because of the support and help from the TFP in the past, I'd always leave an open invite into the locked forum/blog for long time and contributing and donating members to the TFP until I close that down to create the final courses.

For a finance newb like me, who knows nothing about money, it would be a good idea to start from the very basic and work to the more advanced levels. There's no point in learning how to run before one can even crawl.

As for a private forum, I'm not sure if Halx and the mods are up to creating a new one just for this purpose, but I suggest Member's Playground to be a pretty safe bet. People there are mostly TFP vets.

Man, I have a lot of questions already. Not sure if you're ready to take 'em at this moment. As you can see, I'm quite eager. :)

Money can be exchanged for goods and services.

I'd be interested in hearing about these techniques and learning what you know. but from what you have said so far it seems to have fallen into the catagory of "too good to be true" but I'm willing to listen.

I did actually check your profile to see if you were an established user.

Yay!

That IS interesting. There used to be a "Tilted Finances," "Tilted Money," (or something similar) subforum about five years ago. I remember especially interesting advice about mortgages from No Soup. Good credit card advice as well. I posted in that area a few times. Maybe it just didn't get enough activity or something, but one day it was just GONE, :confused: merged into the Tilted Life subforum. Might be time to bring it back.:thumbsup:

Lindy

:)

I loved that forum - I realize chances are pretty close to nil, but I'd love to see it back as well. It's a very different economy from when it was initially merged, perhaps people are showing much more interest in finance than in the past? And thanks Lindy, it makes me feel great knowing that some folks remember some of the advice from there!

Actually NoSoup - I asked you permission once to quote your article in a blog regarding credit, and it was SUPER useful. Would love to get that old discussion forum up again with someone of your caliber in the mix.

---------- Post added at 04:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:49 PM ----------

If anyone's interested in understanding the workings of a business done right - I'm totally loving the new revamped version of the 4-hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. He gives a TON of fantastic information away that took me forever to find.