Posts Tagged ‘Midlife Millionaire’

Just arrived ready for adventure! Spent the entire day exploring the jungle resort including Red Frog Beach, Turtle Beach (where the turtles nest), and our first walk in the rain forest.

The waves at Red Frog Beach were amazing. We spent hours walking the beach, jumping in the waves and just enjoying the pounding of the surf.

Bocas Del Toro is located in the Caribbean Sea just a few miles south of Costa Rica. Our island is a national marine park with mangroves, dolphins, sloths, white faced monkeys and gorgeous rain forests.

 

 

Red Frog Beach is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world with pounding surf attracting surfers worldwide. Each year the great green sea turtles emerge from the sea to lay their eggs on the beach as well.

 

 

 

Below, the ladies are enjoying a full afternoon of fabulous massage, facials, and sun bathing at the fabulous Red Frog Beach Spa with Erin and spa owner, Sarah.

Below, the wonderful Chef Ian prepared dinner two evenings. Here he is serving us surf and turf along with Canadian wine complements of retreat attendee, Pat Mussieux of Canada. Fabulous!

 

Here we are cruising the Panama Canal where our guide, Carlos, took us for an exclusive river tour where we saw howler monkeys, white faced monkeys, had lunch, and either napped in the hammocks or swam in the jungle river. What do you think I did even though I had forgotten my swim suit? I didn’t realize how strong the current was…thank goodness I am a good swimmer!

 

Here is my favorite primate, the howler monkey, who came right up to our boat for this photo. They are normally very shy. These monkeys sound like lions when they roar early in the morning – right at dawn. They make a wonderful alarm clock!

We had a wonderful time in this magical jungle. It’s so important to create time in your schedule for the mind, body and spirit to rest.

Our next retreat will be next fall for couples celebrating their 25th anniversary. We already have three couples who have asked to join us for Adventures and Awakening in Costa Rica. If you or someone is interested in this retreat…just drop me a line at katana@katanaabbott.com

Katana Abbott, CFP, CSA
President and CEO
Midlife Millionaires

It was last December when I decided to figure out my own personal brand.  For years, I had been promoting my online community, Smart Women’s Coaching, which is an online educational, inspirational and empowerment community featuring our Contributing Experts. I felt safe and it was a nice place to be — I thought. But I was wrong.  You see I had forgotten to brand myself.  I had almost become an administrator for our community…hosting the calls, writing the ezine and providing lots of content for the greater good. 

No wonder I was feeling burned out. I was not expressing my unique abilities and talents by being behind a computer! Well, I decided to talk to one of our Contributing Experts, Ruth Klein, about my situation, and that’s when she told me I had forgotten to create my own personal brand.

I hired Ruth as my business coach and we got busy.  Within six weeks, I had launched my own personal website www.katanaabbott.com and launched my Midlife Millionaire brand.  I even launched an 8 week course on Creating Your Midlife Millionaire Lifestyle and had rave reviews from those who attended.

Something was still missing though – my brand did not express my mission authentically.  There was still one piece missing…then I got it.  My passion and expertise as a Certified Financial Planner is helping women create the second half of their lives…to create financial freedom while following their passion and to leave a fabulous legacy.  My brand was actually, “Awakened Midlife Millionaire” and I help you awaken your life, business and legacy. I was sooooo excited!

Do you see the difference?  To me, the “Awaken” goes to the soul, purpose and passion of creating your perfect life.  Then the magic began to happen. As soon as I made the commitment to move forward with my new and authentic brand, other opportunities began to come into my life.  My dear friend, Marilyn Schwader, who is a Shamanic Practitioner, and I began to share our dreams about leading off site spiritual prosperity retreats in places like Costa Rica and South America and we are are now co-creating a new program on Awakened Prosperity.  It really is magical what begins to happen when you begin to follow your bliss and express yourself authentically! 

Where are you holding yourself back?  Is there something inside of you that’s just waiting to emerge to help you live more authentically, joyfully and abundantly?

If you are interested in learning more about Awakened Prosperity, you can listen to my radio show, Smart Women Talk this Tuesday, August 24 at 11 am EST, 8 am PST when I will be interviewing Shamanic Practictioner, Marilyn Schwader.

In addition, if you are interested in learning more about creating your own Soul Center – Authentic Brand, you can join me and Brand Strategist, Ruth Klein this Wednesday, August 25th at 7:30 pm EST, 4:30 pm PST.  Click here to register for our free teleseminar, Creating a Soul Centered Business, Brand or Book.  You will love both of these events — I promise!

Also, feel free to pick up my free Midlife Millioniare Success Pack with my interview, transcipt and article on creating your inspired and authentic life with abundance.

Interest rates are at an all time low.  My husband and I are in the process of refinancing our home from a 30 year mortgage to a 15 year mortgage, and the payment will just be slightly more than we were paying before. 

Our situation: We are actually combining our current 30 year mortgage and 30 year home equity line that were at 5.75% and 6.125% to a new combined mortgage at 4.25% 15 year amortization. 

Coming up with cash:  Our biggest fear was that we would have to come up with cash to make this happen because home values are so low.  If our house does not appraise high enough, we will need to put cash down to reduce the size of the mortgage.  The good news is if we do put down the cash (about $50,000, our payment will be less than we are paying now and we will save hundreds of thousands by paying off in 15 years rather than 30 years.

Comparable appraisals:  Many of the houses on the lake are very unique.  Ours is two cottages joined together into one house…then several additions…lots of landscaping and then waterfront on the lake and on the river.  Finding a comparable house on the lake may be difficult.  Our mortgage broker seems to think that our house will appraise high enough that we won’t need to come up with the cash.  It seems that there have been several home sales on the lake at favorable market rates.  All of this needs to be considered when making a decision to refinance.

What about closing costs?  When there are closing costs, you will need to compare those up front costs to how long it will take for you to break even.  In addition, if you have refinanced in the last few years and paid closing costs, you will want to bring those into this calculation.  In our case, there were no closing costs, so the decision was simple. 

Consolidating other debt:  I mentioned that we are combining a home equity line and our mortgage.  The home equity line was for a major home addition and a lot up north.  I don’t suggest refinancing your unsecured credit card debt into your mortgage especially if this could jeopardize your current financial situtation.  Consult with your tax advisor on this as well.

Is this a good time for you to refinance?  Do the math and see if it makes sense.   Again, consider having a discussin with a financial professional will be your best bet.  Good luck and feel free to share your experiences or ask your questions here.

For 25 years, I have been making contributions to my traditional IRA (Individual Retirement Account). I started my first IRA investment by saving $2000 limit annually.  When I became self employed, I created a SEP IRA for my personal retirement plan, and was able to save up to 15% annually.

All my contributions have been tax deductible, however, at retirement, the distributions will be taxable.  Will tax rates be higher or lower 10, 20 years from now?  What do you think?  I think they will be higher.  I don’t expect my income to be lower either since I am continuing to build an ongoing residual income from my businesses. 

 Therefore, I am considering converting my traditional and SEP IRA (which are all “pre tax” contributions) to a Roth IRA.  This will mean that I pay tax on all the dollars when I make this conversion from Traditional to Roth.   There are several reasons I am considering this tax planning technique this year. 

Planning opportunity:

1. A Roth IRA allows you to contribute after tax dollars.  You still get the tax deferral on your investment, however the income distributionscome out tax free.  (Contribute after – tax with tax free distributions)
2. In addition on January 1, 2010, the IRS removed the “Phase Out Limits” on converting to a Roth IRA.  In another words, prior to 2010, there were income limitations that restricted many individuals from converting their regular IRA to a Roth IRA.  Now all tax payers can convert regardless of their income level.
3. Because of the economy this last few years, some individuals my be experiencing a lower adjusted gross income this year, or be unemployed or in transition.
4. Investment values could be down which could be another reason to convert from Traditional to a Roth IRA.
5. For 2010 only, the IRA is allowing tax payers to claim 50% of the conversion amount as income in 2011 and the balance in 2012. 

Since we are just mid year into 2010 and your CPA is finished with tax season, this could be a good time to sit down and do some year end tax planning.  And it is always a good time to begin to take control of your finances by paying attending to your money.   For more information on IRAs and retirement planning, you can visit, IRA Guru, Ed Slott, who is also a Contributing Expert for the Smart Women’s Empowerment Institute 

On Tuesday, May 25th, I will have returned from my two week Mediterranean cruise and will be interviewing, Ameriprise Financial Planner, Deborah Linscott, on RothIRA, Inherited IRAs and planning your legacy for the future generations.  She is also an Elite Advisor with Ed Slott and one of the top IRA advisors in the country.  You won’t want to miss Smart Women Talk on May 25th, so stay tuned!

Do you have questions about buidling and growing your wealth?   Let me know what those are and I will do my very best to help you live with more purpose, passion and prosperity.  You can also send me an email at katana@katanaabbott.com