Top 11 Ways to Be in Charge of Your Financial Destiny

It can take a tremendous amount of courage and faith to take charge of our financial destiny but the price we'll pay if we don't is like buying on credit: Every day that goes by without getting it handled just makes the ultimate price steeper and steeper. Here are the Top 10 Way to turn that around and be the one in Charge of YOUR Financial Destiny.

1. Establish your financial baseline.

Get a crystal clear picture of where you're at - right now! Track down everything and nail the numbers down. For some of you that may mean that you need to...

2. Face the music.

There may be a few of you having difficulty coming to terms with just how well off you are, but you're more likely to be in the group of people coming to terms with how bad things seem. Either way, it's only a place to start and it doesn't define who you. You define who you are; don't ever give that power away to anything or anybody else.

Wherever you're at, you are completely capable of turning that around and that just makes the accomplishment even more meaningful.

3. Don't count on your day job.

Unfortunately in corporate America loyalty seems to have become a one way street. Companies expect it from their employees but refuse to offer it in return. If the bottom line suggests the company is better off without you, then you have become totally expendable without any consequences in the eyes of the company. That means you're going to need to...

4. Build alternative streams of income.

There's lots of ways to do that, but it most likely means that means you're probably going to want to...

5. Start your own business.

If you're like most people you've always wanted to. Why not just bite the bullet and go for it? You can even hang on to your day job while you get it going.

6. Make every financial decision an informed decision.

Feeling uncertain about the financial advice your getting means you need to raise your financial IQ. What vital piece of the puzzle is missing for you so that you can be the final and confident authority on that?

7. Make decisions.

I've worked with clients that had 6 figures of dollars sitting in a regular saving account because they couldn't make a decision about what they should do with it. Prepare yourself for a steep learning curve and to raise your tolerance for frustration and learn the money game - once and for all. There'll always be something new to learn, but if you have a solid financial education to use it with you'll rarely be led astray.

8. Get a mentor.

This is definitely the most common piece of advice people get and the most likely piece of advice you'll ignore. Finding the perfect mentor is a process and an art form. The mentor you pick for right now may not be the perfect one, but that mentor may lead you to the one that is.

9. Dedicate yourself to mastering your income domain.

No matter what vehicle(s) you're choosing to produce income in your life, dedicate yourself to becoming the master of it (them). The worst that can happen is that you learn the equivalent of a degree that will propel your next idea straight to the top. That also means that you need to...

10. Give yourself permission to fail.

This is SO much larger than you think. There is a classic story of how hunters in the jungle catch monkeys by placing their favorite objects in jars that barely fit through the neck. When the monkey reaches in and grabs the object his hand becomes too large to pull back out unless he lets go of the object he's grabbing for. He won't - and he becomes easy to catch.

Those of us in the middle class in particularly like the monkeys with their fist caught in the jar. We're afraid of losing what we have and we're surrounded by people who are starting all over again from the bottom.

Unfortunately, the only way to achieve the next level of success may be by becoming willing to let go of the level of success that you already have and take risks.

What if that's the only thing standing in your way?

11. Take your power back.

Up until this point, who's been calling the shots of your financial destiny? Your boss? Your stock broker? Your financial planner? Husband? Wife? Brother-in-law?

It's time to take your power back. Nobody cares more about your financial future than you and that makes you the only one fully qualified to make the final decision.

When you make decisions about handling your money, be clear that it is YOUR decision about handling money.

Anyone committed to creating wealth needs a competent and professional team of people offering advice, but don't ever delude yourself that it's ultimately their decision, because it's not - its yours.