Mark Ford

From Mark Ford, founder, Palm Beach Research Group: Last year, my total income generated through this strategy exceeded $6 million.

I earned that without ever going into the office, without ever answering to a boss, and without ever doing anything I didn’t want to do…

I’ve been involved with dozens of entrepreneurial projects in my career, the largest of which has grown to a $600 million business.

But the wealth I acquired never came from selling any of these businesses. It came from the income these businesses generated—and how I put that income to use.

I call this strategy developing multiple streams of income

And I’ve been doing it for more than 30 years.

I’ve tried dozens of things. (More than half of them didn’t pan out.) But my method has always been to start small and test the waters.

If it looked promising, I pushed the throttle. If it started badly, I pulled out fast.

Using this method, I’ve developed self-supporting, almost automatic cash streams.

And get this: Each and every one of my income streams is enough for me to live on. If one stream ever dried up completely, I’d still have several more to fall back on.

(None of this even counts the actual value of my hard assets—the real estate, the art, the gold bullion coins, etc.—I have stashed away. They grow “automatically,” too, once you begin.)

  99% of people fall into two common wealth traps

No. 1: The trap of the “regular employee”

Are you a doctor, lawyer, or other professional? How about a salaried employee?

If so, you’re in a trap. And you’ll never get out unless you listen right now.

Here’s what I mean…

At the end of the day, you’re charging for your time. And if you want to make more money, there are only two ways to do it:

  1. Charge more per hour (though not too much more, or you’ll risk sounding ridiculous or, worse, being replaced).
  2. Work more hours (though there are only so many hours you can work and still have a life).

As you improve your skills—or stay long enough with one company—you may earn more for every hour you work. Eventually, you might even earn a couple hundred thousand dollars per year.

To earn that money, you’ll have to work very hard. Often, that means 10- to 14-hour workdays.

If you’re a salaried employee or you have a job that pays by the hour, you know exactly what I mean.

You may be earning good money, but it’s hard to enjoy your success because you’re always up to your eyeballs in work.

Retiring is an option. But remember, when you retire, you lose your active income. That’s not good. (I know… I tried retirement for 18 months.)

I was rich and retired and happy to write poetry and paint bad paintings.

But I always worried I’d run out of money or one of my investments would tank. That’s not financial security. I promised myself I’d never again fall into that trap.

Not sure if you’re falling into this wealth trap? Consider asking yourself these questions:

  • Are you 100% confident you can work yourself up the corporate ladder (considering not just your ability, but also your environment)?
  • Are you comfortable with the time it’ll take to get to the top?
  • If you don’t make it to the top, are you comfortable having less money by the time you retire?
  • Can you trust the company you work for to guarantee you a lifetime of income?
  • Once you’re ready to retire and give up your job, will you be comfortable cutting off that sole source of income?

If you answered “no” to any of these questions, you must start setting up other cash flows.

Once you do, all these worries will go away.

Your income isn’t dependent on the number of hours you work. You can make money when you’re on vacation… when you’re sick… when you’re sleeping. You’ll never have to worry about your income again.

No. 2: The “not-enough-cash” trap

It is, of course, much easier to end up with a multimillion-dollar income if you start in your early 30s, as I did.

But even if you’re older and have fewer than 10 years to generate the income you want, you can do it. But you must get started now.

Let’s talk about this—where you could be starting. I’m going to assume you’re not yet wealthy—or not as wealthy as you’d like to be.

Perhaps the financial crisis in 2008-2009 devastated you. Perhaps you’re starting from scratch. Or you had to delay your retirement plans 10-15 years…

In each of these scenarios, the single best answer I can give you is: Generate extra streams of income.

The problem most people have isn’t that they’re getting only 0.5% on bank accounts, 3.5% on bonds, and 8% from stocks.

The problem is they don’t have enough cash!

Stop and ask yourself if that’s true for you.

What will change your financial life in a dramatic way? Getting an extra few percentage points on your current investments? Or bringing in thousands of extra dollars in cash every month?

Very few people build lasting wealth through stock investing and options alone. Yet the vast majority of financial advisers you’ll speak with only offer these “solutions.”

Instead, you need to increase your income through different avenues and opportunities. And then put that money into ventures and operations that’ll gush cold, hard cash.

  You won’t hear this anywhere else

You can’t possibly achieve the wealth you need from the stock market in less than 10 years. This isn’t something you’ll hear from your average financial adviser, stockbroker, or money manager.

I’ve never heard anyone in the popular financial community say it. All they talk about is stock returns, 401(k)s, or some new trading program.

Another camp will tell you to save more by spending less money on coffee or cutting out your trips to restaurants.

This is—if you’ll excuse the correct word—bullshit.

The way to solve the problem you have is by generating extra cash.

Others won’t tell you this because (a) there’s no benefit to them in saying it and (b) most of them have no idea about how to actually do this.

But I do.

When I began developing my own streams, I started out small and built slowly. I never took large risks.

And I never gave up my day job.

Some of the income streams I have today are:

  • A local rental real estate portfolio (using very specific cash-flow strategies that have nothing to do with the risky practice of buying and flipping houses)
  • An international rental real estate portfolio
  • Interests in a half-dozen companies
  • My consulting income
  • My income from bonds
  • My income from dividend stocks
  • And more…

As I said, each of these streams is greater than the amount of money I spend every year.

So, if all but one of the above suddenly disappeared, for example, I’d still have enough income to live on… without diminishing my lifestyle.

And to back that up, I also have a stash of hard assets I could live on for the rest of my life.

That’s a lot of financial security.

And there are thousands of other possible streams you could set up for yourself… as many people have under my tutelage.

And one more thing: Don’t think for a second this is only a rich man’s game.

I’ve mentored—personally and through my many books and programs—hundreds of not-yet-wealthy individuals on setting up cash-gushing income streams. And I’ve heard enough stories about people launching their own little side gigs—that’ve gone on to generate thousands of extra dollars each month—to know anyone can do this.

The most important thing is getting started.

  The train is leaving

This may be the most important thing to understand about generating extra income: Getting started is the only difficult part. The rest is a relative piece of cake.

Inertia is always the biggest challenge. You know you need to take some action, but you aren’t quite sure what to do. And even if you do know what to do, there are so many distractions and responsibilities keeping you from the first step.

You will see—I promise you—the first step is by far the hardest. After that, it’s like walking. One step after another.

Before you know it, the cash will flow almost automatically. And it’ll increase with each passing month.

If you can get started, I have full confidence that by this time next year, you’ll have at least one—and maybe two or three—extra streams of cash coming into your life every month.

That year is going to pass by quickly—whether you’re on the train or standing at the station.

Why not hop on now?

Reeves’ Note: Mark made $6 million last year through his active streams of income. If you’re ready to increase your cash flow—and to stop being a slave to a paycheck—sign up here for 100% free access to a video from Mark himself. In it, he details the exact system he says has given him “more money than I can spend in several lifetimes.”

UPDATE: Mark’s live webinar has ended, but you can still gain access to his teachings inside the Wealth Builders Club.  The Club is only open to new members (at a stunning discount) for a few more days