Mack Newton is a personal trainer/motivational speaker from the USA. He is an exceptionally good presenter and is extremely knowledgable about health and fitness. I first saw a video of him speaking on the RichDad.com website. Mack has a fascinating story of how he overcame early problems in his life. He is into health and how to get others to become more healthy through changing their attitude to food, life and exercise. I found his 2 hour talk to be extremely inspirational.
Some of the topics he covered included " Don't try lose weight, just eat healthy" and "Why you shouldn't eat Bread!" After considering all his points both topics sound extremely logical! He says that healthy people cannot be fat. That if you are healthy you are automatically your target weight. So how do you get healthy? It comes down the diet and exercise - the obvious two.
He has designed something called the 3-2 eating plan which enables you easily become healthy. You can eat 3 things and Drink 2 things.
Drink
Water, lots of it. 120 oz a day. This is equivalent to 3 litres per day. Mack says that 90% of people walk around dehydrated. This affects your ability to think, it is not healthy and actually means that your body holds on to water and stores it.
Drink Fruit Juice. Real fruit Juice, not friut drink from a carton.
Food
1. Meat. As much as you want. Remove the fat. Fish is good. Ham is not meat. Ham is a by product with lots of additives.
2. Any vegetable as long as its green. Broccoli, Asparagus, etc
Green vegetables have the best nutrients out of all vegetables. Peppers have almost no nutrients. Lettuce and cabbage are mostly water. Salads are generally a no no because the contain more fattening ingredients that good ingredients by weight
3. Fruit. Eat moderately. If you have a Mack Shake (read more below) then this is equivalent to 80% of your fruit intake for the day.
Mack has a great idea for a fruit shake to have every morning. I started doing this about 3 months ago and it has been great. I have lost about 9kgs.
Mack Shake Recipe
One Banana
Half an apple (Skin on is fine)
Orange Juice.
Into a blender. Thats it
Foods to Avoid
- Salt
We don't need it in our diet. The low amount of salt we actually need is found naturally in the above foods/meat. We don't need to add extra salt to our cooking. Salt is like a drug. Once we have it, we need a little more, and then we get used to having it and feel bad wihout it - just like nicotine. We end up craving it with every meal. We don't need extra salt to season food. this just masks the real flavour of the food. Avoiding salt also means that we need to cut out things like salty snacks, potato chips corn chips etc.
- Bread.
- Excessive Sugar
- Coffee and Caffeine. We dont need it. Its just a drug
- Starch rich foods like potatoes, corn
- Food with chemical additives - which is pretty much anything that comes in a packet. Check the ingredients labels. If you can see an numbers in the ingredients list such as (621) or (202) then these are chemicals, and hey we don't need them in our food.
From personal experience. Once you stop eating things like potato chips you just don't crave them. Once you break free from the need for salt you just dont need it. You can get your power back and you feel a lot better being in control. After 1 week of avoiding salty foods, I was over the craving. Its about just putting your mind to it. I haven't eaten Potato Chips now (not even at parties) for almost 4 months - its quite amazing.
To read more on Mack Newton and his techniques visit his website macknewton.com or do a Google search.
Auckland, New Zealand
Friday, January 11, 2008
Review - The Theory that Savers are Losers
The first time I heard the theory that "savers are losers" was from Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Its a funny statement to make, but when you listen to his argument it really gives you something to think about.
Essentially the theory explains that people who save money, be it in the bank or wherever are actually losing money, due to inflation. When you park your money somewhere where it is not actively invested and working for you all you can really expect is a few percent in interest. When inflation runs at the average 3% in western economies any interest you gain simply gets eaten up by the natural run of inflation.
So all the money you are saving gives you either the same purchasing power as the year before, or worse you are actually able to buy less with this money than you could last year.
To put it in money terms, say you have saved $1000. You put this in the bank at 3% interest. 3% Interest? The bank rate may be 4-5% but after tax you will generally receive around the 3% mark. After year 1 the dollar amount in your bank account is $1030. Lets say over the year inflation ran at the average 3%. That is prices for everyday goods rose on average 3% in the economy over the year. So lets reduce the $1030 by 3%. Your $1030 can now only buy you $999.10 worth of goods compared to the previous year. So in effect you have lost money by saving!
So what does this mean? Does it mean that we shouldn't save?
I think saving is a good idea and a good habit to get into. But isn't it crazy to think that all your hard work to save is actually dissolving by the day? To think that saving money alone will enable you to "get rich" or have a great retirement is a flawed way of looking this issue. You really need to increase your savings at a faster rate to escape inflation and to see some real benefit from tucking away your hard earned cash and not spending it.
So how can we increase the return we get on our savings?
We need to look further afield than simply putting money in the bank. There are so many options and other methods of receiving a higher return on your money. In future blogs I will be investigating and reviewing all kinds of options for us to achieve a higher return.
So please keep checking back to this blog for ideas on how to increase your money and avoid the "Savers are losers" theory.
If you would like to add a comment, even just a few lines, then please click below to add your comment. It would be great to hear from from blog readers.
Auckland, New Zealand
Essentially the theory explains that people who save money, be it in the bank or wherever are actually losing money, due to inflation. When you park your money somewhere where it is not actively invested and working for you all you can really expect is a few percent in interest. When inflation runs at the average 3% in western economies any interest you gain simply gets eaten up by the natural run of inflation.
So all the money you are saving gives you either the same purchasing power as the year before, or worse you are actually able to buy less with this money than you could last year.
To put it in money terms, say you have saved $1000. You put this in the bank at 3% interest. 3% Interest? The bank rate may be 4-5% but after tax you will generally receive around the 3% mark. After year 1 the dollar amount in your bank account is $1030. Lets say over the year inflation ran at the average 3%. That is prices for everyday goods rose on average 3% in the economy over the year. So lets reduce the $1030 by 3%. Your $1030 can now only buy you $999.10 worth of goods compared to the previous year. So in effect you have lost money by saving!
So what does this mean? Does it mean that we shouldn't save?
I think saving is a good idea and a good habit to get into. But isn't it crazy to think that all your hard work to save is actually dissolving by the day? To think that saving money alone will enable you to "get rich" or have a great retirement is a flawed way of looking this issue. You really need to increase your savings at a faster rate to escape inflation and to see some real benefit from tucking away your hard earned cash and not spending it.
So how can we increase the return we get on our savings?
We need to look further afield than simply putting money in the bank. There are so many options and other methods of receiving a higher return on your money. In future blogs I will be investigating and reviewing all kinds of options for us to achieve a higher return.
So please keep checking back to this blog for ideas on how to increase your money and avoid the "Savers are losers" theory.
If you would like to add a comment, even just a few lines, then please click below to add your comment. It would be great to hear from from blog readers.
Auckland, New Zealand
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Review - TradeMe.co.nz
Introduction
If you live in New Zealand, you will have heard of TradeMe. This website is New Zealands equivalent of US Online Auction Giant Ebay. Out of a population of 4 million, 1 million people are a member of this website. The numbers are staggering and the story behind TradeMe's rise is one of the little guy beats the big guy.
History
Started back in 1999 by Sam Morgan. Trade Me started out of a simple problem. Sam needed a small heater for his cold and draughty Wellington Flat. He decided to have a look online to see if he could find a nice cheap second hand heater. After much searching he stumbled across the Trade and Exchange website. This was the online section of the popular classifieds newspaper. The funny thing was that the ads on the website were a week old and by the time you called them the items had long been sold. Looking at the funny side Sam decided to have a crack at his own website where people could post ads for free, and best of all live.
He was getting into a bit of website design so started to create the site in his spare time on his dad laptop. He managed to get the programming to work and encouraged all his friends and family to sign up. It went this way for a few months, there were only a small number of members but slowly membership started to grow. Before long there were a few thousand members and things started to tick along nicely.
Things went well until Sam found the site runnng costs were starting to rise. He needed to get some revenue through the site. He tried and tried with banner advertising. It was mildly successful but never seemed to cover the costs. Also the long hours time Sam was putting into the site were not being compensated. After much indecision he decided to start charging for the service. At first he charged to post classifieds. This gave revenue a much needed boost, and was enough to cover costs and pay have a little left over.
After looking at what the Early Ebay site was doing in the USA he decided to add online auctions to the mix. He charged a small success fee around 5% of the sale price if the auction was successful. The auction phoemoenena worldwide was set to boom and online auctions took off. This was no doubt in part to the convenientce and addictiveness of this new craze.
The site was starting to make money. Some old colloeagues heard about Sams venture and could see the metrics of ebay. They decided to back sam and invested 70,000 and provided some office space. A few staff were hired and the business was able to buy much needed computer hardware to keep the site loading fast.
I recommend checking out the website, and if you are in New Zealand or Australia consider signing up at www.trademe.co.nz
You can also find out more information about Trademe on the TradeIt website:
www.tradeit.co.nz
Auckland, New Zealand
If you live in New Zealand, you will have heard of TradeMe. This website is New Zealands equivalent of US Online Auction Giant Ebay. Out of a population of 4 million, 1 million people are a member of this website. The numbers are staggering and the story behind TradeMe's rise is one of the little guy beats the big guy.
History
Started back in 1999 by Sam Morgan. Trade Me started out of a simple problem. Sam needed a small heater for his cold and draughty Wellington Flat. He decided to have a look online to see if he could find a nice cheap second hand heater. After much searching he stumbled across the Trade and Exchange website. This was the online section of the popular classifieds newspaper. The funny thing was that the ads on the website were a week old and by the time you called them the items had long been sold. Looking at the funny side Sam decided to have a crack at his own website where people could post ads for free, and best of all live.
He was getting into a bit of website design so started to create the site in his spare time on his dad laptop. He managed to get the programming to work and encouraged all his friends and family to sign up. It went this way for a few months, there were only a small number of members but slowly membership started to grow. Before long there were a few thousand members and things started to tick along nicely.
Things went well until Sam found the site runnng costs were starting to rise. He needed to get some revenue through the site. He tried and tried with banner advertising. It was mildly successful but never seemed to cover the costs. Also the long hours time Sam was putting into the site were not being compensated. After much indecision he decided to start charging for the service. At first he charged to post classifieds. This gave revenue a much needed boost, and was enough to cover costs and pay have a little left over.
After looking at what the Early Ebay site was doing in the USA he decided to add online auctions to the mix. He charged a small success fee around 5% of the sale price if the auction was successful. The auction phoemoenena worldwide was set to boom and online auctions took off. This was no doubt in part to the convenientce and addictiveness of this new craze.
The site was starting to make money. Some old colloeagues heard about Sams venture and could see the metrics of ebay. They decided to back sam and invested 70,000 and provided some office space. A few staff were hired and the business was able to buy much needed computer hardware to keep the site loading fast.
I recommend checking out the website, and if you are in New Zealand or Australia consider signing up at www.trademe.co.nz
You can also find out more information about Trademe on the TradeIt website:
www.tradeit.co.nz
Auckland, New Zealand
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Review - Mr Vintage
Mr Vintage Ltd
Introduction
Mr Vintage is an Auckland clothing company which specialises in Pop Culture and Vintage style t-shirts. While the bulk of their business is thru www.mrvintage.co.nz they also have a retail store in Parnell, Auckland. From small online beginnings Mr. Vintage has grown to be extremely popular in NZ.
History
Mr Vintage was started by founder Robert Ewan in 2004. Annoyed at the lack of good t-shirts available he decided to import Vintage and Pop Culture designs from the USA. Based on the auction website TradeMe.co.nz his little side earner grew and grew. They became a very successful trader thru the auction site selling at least 100-200K p.a. They expanded to a website and now actually do not sell on TradeMe, only through their website. From a one man band operating thru TradeMe auctions, Mr Vintage now employs 3 staff located in their Parnell store.
Products
The core lines are printed T-Shirts with Vintage style prints. They have an extensive range of pop culture designs from the USA covering movies, music, old Tv shows, and movie stars. Some examples include the Beatles, Terminator and the Godfather. Also extremely popular are their locally designed Kiwiana t-shirts with designs such as "Keep New Zealand Beautiful" and the Commenwealth Games "NZZN designs".
Quality of Tees
We have found the quality of both the Blank T-shirts and the screenprinting to be very high quality. Even after lots of washes the shirts hold their shape and the print stays intact. We recommend checking them out!
Mr Vintage can be found online at: www.mrvintage.co.nz
Introduction
Mr Vintage is an Auckland clothing company which specialises in Pop Culture and Vintage style t-shirts. While the bulk of their business is thru www.mrvintage.co.nz they also have a retail store in Parnell, Auckland. From small online beginnings Mr. Vintage has grown to be extremely popular in NZ.
History
Mr Vintage was started by founder Robert Ewan in 2004. Annoyed at the lack of good t-shirts available he decided to import Vintage and Pop Culture designs from the USA. Based on the auction website TradeMe.co.nz his little side earner grew and grew. They became a very successful trader thru the auction site selling at least 100-200K p.a. They expanded to a website and now actually do not sell on TradeMe, only through their website. From a one man band operating thru TradeMe auctions, Mr Vintage now employs 3 staff located in their Parnell store.
Products
The core lines are printed T-Shirts with Vintage style prints. They have an extensive range of pop culture designs from the USA covering movies, music, old Tv shows, and movie stars. Some examples include the Beatles, Terminator and the Godfather. Also extremely popular are their locally designed Kiwiana t-shirts with designs such as "Keep New Zealand Beautiful" and the Commenwealth Games "NZZN designs".
Quality of Tees
We have found the quality of both the Blank T-shirts and the screenprinting to be very high quality. Even after lots of washes the shirts hold their shape and the print stays intact. We recommend checking them out!
Mr Vintage can be found online at: www.mrvintage.co.nz
Monday, December 17, 2007
Review - Rich Dad, Poor Dad Book by Robert Kiyosaki
Robert Kiyosaki is a extremely well-known financial guru from the USA. His major claim to fame was to author the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" which is one of the most popular and best selling business books of all time. The book has sold over 26 million copies and has been on the New York Times bestseller lists for over 6 years.
If you haven't already I highly recommend reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad. It is a story about Robert and his 2 fathers, one is real father and the other a friends father. The book discusses their 2 different approaches to the subject of money and the effect both viewpoints had on him from childhood. The book is real wakeup call to most people as its main premise is the "Rich do not work for money, the rich have their money work for them.
The full title of the book is: Rich Dad, Poor Dad. What the rich teach their kids that the poor and middle class do not.
The title sets the scene for the book and there is a strong emphasis on education is the book. There are many mantras repeated throughout the book such as:
Instead of saying "I can't afford it" Say "How can I afford it?
By saying "I can't afford it" instantly stops your mind from working on solving the probelm. Asking "How can I afford it" puts your mind to work.
"The Rich Don't Work from money, The Rich have their money work for them"
Essentially this means that the Rich do not trade hours of their time for money. Very few people can ever get rich simply working in a job. The rich have their money work for them in businesses and investments so that they do not physically have to work. The rich also use many forms of "Leverage" which is the ability to do more with less. Such Leverage through OPT, Other Peoples Time and OPM other peoples money.
Other books in the series written by Robert Kiyoskai are: Rich Dads Cashflow Quadrant, Rich Dad's Guide to investing, Rich dad's Rich Kid Smart Kid, Rich Dad's Retire Young, Retire Rich, Rich Dad's Prophecy, Rich Dad's Success Stories, Rich Dad's Who took my money.
Auckland, New Zealand
If you haven't already I highly recommend reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad. It is a story about Robert and his 2 fathers, one is real father and the other a friends father. The book discusses their 2 different approaches to the subject of money and the effect both viewpoints had on him from childhood. The book is real wakeup call to most people as its main premise is the "Rich do not work for money, the rich have their money work for them.
The full title of the book is: Rich Dad, Poor Dad. What the rich teach their kids that the poor and middle class do not.
The title sets the scene for the book and there is a strong emphasis on education is the book. There are many mantras repeated throughout the book such as:
Instead of saying "I can't afford it" Say "How can I afford it?
By saying "I can't afford it" instantly stops your mind from working on solving the probelm. Asking "How can I afford it" puts your mind to work.
"The Rich Don't Work from money, The Rich have their money work for them"
Essentially this means that the Rich do not trade hours of their time for money. Very few people can ever get rich simply working in a job. The rich have their money work for them in businesses and investments so that they do not physically have to work. The rich also use many forms of "Leverage" which is the ability to do more with less. Such Leverage through OPT, Other Peoples Time and OPM other peoples money.
Other books in the series written by Robert Kiyoskai are: Rich Dads Cashflow Quadrant, Rich Dad's Guide to investing, Rich dad's Rich Kid Smart Kid, Rich Dad's Retire Young, Retire Rich, Rich Dad's Prophecy, Rich Dad's Success Stories, Rich Dad's Who took my money.
Auckland, New Zealand
Review - Presidential Inner Circle
Presidential Inner Circle is a company under the Richmastery umbrella. The PIC is a private club that provides unique experiences for their members with a success and business focus. Some of their events include Lunches with the worlds top business people and celebrities, Ferrrari/Porsche days and other one-off special elite events.
The club looks like a lot of fun with a good variety of events to cater to a wide a range of tastes. Membership cost is in the $10,000 region. Which I think is quite reasonable considering some of the heavyweights they have secured in their first year such as Richard Branson, Donald Trump and Bill Clinton.
They run a range of events with internationals celebrities as well as local events with local business people and personalities such as Grant Dalton, Dean Barker, Michael Hill, Ian Taylor.
Essentially the group is just a networking opportunity for wealthy/success minded people but obviously the deals you can strike can be worth a significant amount. The other purpose of the group is to provide elite experiences not available anywhere else. The kind of events that other a select few people will ever attand. You have to be a person of stature, famous or personally know the celebrities but Inner circle groups the world over are meeting the need of very successful people to network and socialise with like-minded people.
The club looks like a lot of fun with a good variety of events to cater to a wide a range of tastes. Membership cost is in the $10,000 region. Which I think is quite reasonable considering some of the heavyweights they have secured in their first year such as Richard Branson, Donald Trump and Bill Clinton.
They run a range of events with internationals celebrities as well as local events with local business people and personalities such as Grant Dalton, Dean Barker, Michael Hill, Ian Taylor.
Essentially the group is just a networking opportunity for wealthy/success minded people but obviously the deals you can strike can be worth a significant amount. The other purpose of the group is to provide elite experiences not available anywhere else. The kind of events that other a select few people will ever attand. You have to be a person of stature, famous or personally know the celebrities but Inner circle groups the world over are meeting the need of very successful people to network and socialise with like-minded people.
Review - Subway
Lots of New Restaurnants
I thought it a good time to give a review on Subway Restaurants. In the area I live there seems to be more and more restaurnats opening per suburb. Sometimes several in the same suburban street! One of the the worlds most successful and well known franchises, Subway has literally taken the world by storm. Now with over 28,000 Restaurants in 86 countries including 197 in New Zealand.
Eat Fresh
The menu at Subway has always been funny to me. I would go thru stages of buying Subway 3 times a week then go thru periods of not eating it for months because I didn't like the last time I ate it. Subway can leave a funny taste in your mouth (no pun intended). Their mantra is of course "Eat Fresh" and while the food looks fresh, it looks very uniform and possibly processed.
Genetic Engineering
In New Zealand there was an item on the news several years ago that Subways baker Yarrows used GE wheat in their bread. Subway do promote in each store now that their bread is baked fresh daily on site. But baking dosen't necessarliy mean they make the actual dough. So I assume that Yarrows stil make thedough and each store "bakes" as in puts the dough in the overn every day. So I believe that their bread still contains GE wheat. Their vegetables are all so uniform it makes you wonder if they are GE as well to get the consistency.
Business Model
As a business model though I believe a Subway franchise would be quite a good money spinner. A typical Sub costs around $8.00. The ingredients to make that can't be more than $4.00
Auckland, New Zealand
I thought it a good time to give a review on Subway Restaurants. In the area I live there seems to be more and more restaurnats opening per suburb. Sometimes several in the same suburban street! One of the the worlds most successful and well known franchises, Subway has literally taken the world by storm. Now with over 28,000 Restaurants in 86 countries including 197 in New Zealand.
Eat Fresh
The menu at Subway has always been funny to me. I would go thru stages of buying Subway 3 times a week then go thru periods of not eating it for months because I didn't like the last time I ate it. Subway can leave a funny taste in your mouth (no pun intended). Their mantra is of course "Eat Fresh" and while the food looks fresh, it looks very uniform and possibly processed.
Genetic Engineering
In New Zealand there was an item on the news several years ago that Subways baker Yarrows used GE wheat in their bread. Subway do promote in each store now that their bread is baked fresh daily on site. But baking dosen't necessarliy mean they make the actual dough. So I assume that Yarrows stil make thedough and each store "bakes" as in puts the dough in the overn every day. So I believe that their bread still contains GE wheat. Their vegetables are all so uniform it makes you wonder if they are GE as well to get the consistency.
Business Model
As a business model though I believe a Subway franchise would be quite a good money spinner. A typical Sub costs around $8.00. The ingredients to make that can't be more than $4.00
Auckland, New Zealand
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