I’ve been a volunteer for the Adult Education Center here in town for the past few years. We hold all kinds of classes designed to help people better themselves and prepare for many of the challenges of the workplace. From time to time we also support individual lecturers who hold one-time presentations along the same lines. I was one of the volunteers on the evening that a young man by the name of Eddie made his presentation on preparing for retirement. This turned out to be one of the most popular classes we’d ever held.

For this particular class there was standing room only. I guess that’s not so surprising in light of what’s been going on in our financial markets lately. I actually felt empathy for Eddie as he fielded dozens of questions about the stock and housing markets in the United States. But it turned out that Eddie is a professional. He handled the questions well and managed to instill a sense of calm throughout the crowd. Once people had settled in and realized that Eddie had a lot of valuable information for them everyone listened attentively. And what a presentation he gave.

His primary focus was on retirement – specifically, individual retirement accounts or IRAs. He explained that an IRA was a wonderful way to accumulate money for retirement because the accumulated wealth in your account is not taxed until you actually retire and begin to draw it out – and then it’s taxed at the regular tax rate. He also explained how powerful the tax-deferred status of an IRA was because it allowed retirement funds to grow without the drag of having to pay taxes. He fielded a lot of questions around these concepts before moving forward with his presentation.

With the basic explanations of regular IRAs out of the way, Eddie went a little further in explaining self-directed IRAs. These accounts are essentially the same as the ones we’ve already mentioned except that the account holder actually directs how the funds in the account should be invested. Then Eddie shifted gears a bit and explained a program that was becoming quite popular in certain communities.

There is a program available where people can not only earn great returns in their self-directed IRA, but they can also help working class people and their communities. Someone in the audience shouted out that what Eddie was talking about sounded like real estate investing. Eddie confirmed that it was. And once again there were dozens of questions. With the sub-prime mortgage crisis still making news along with virtually every residential real estate market in the country declining, people wanted to know how and why real estate was a good investment. And again, Eddie showed that he knew his stuff.

He explained that with real estate values down so far there were a multitude of super bargains in most communities. And the program he described was perfect for taking advantage of such bargains. Essentially, the program looked to blue collar communities that were rundown and in need of attention. Once a community had been identified, people were shown how to enter the community, purchase properties at rock bottom prices and resell those properties to people who were actually waiting for quality properties in that community. Of course, they didn’t do this on their own. They did it with help of a particular company that had people and other resources in place to facilitate the entire operation. And the results were phenomenal.

Eddie showed examples of neighborhoods and communities that had participated in such projects. Literally everyone involved in such programs had come out winners. First, investors were needed to provide the capital to get the program started. Next, people were put to work rehabbing certain properties. Another benefit was that rundown properties were being purchased and restored, which brought life back to neighborhoods. In turn, this helped to bring pride back to these communities. And finally, the program made housing affordable to honest, hard working families. Everyone the program touched was far better off. And the majority of the work had been accomplished with private, not government funding. Everyone involved was a winner.

Today more than ever before there is quite a bit of competition in network marketing. According to the latest figures from the Direct Sales Association, there are over 15 million people involved in network marketing. That’s a lot of competition.

What I find amazing is that day after day I continue to find people who have never made a purchase from a network marketing consultant. So, maybe the competition is not as stiff as you thought it was?

My suggestion is to stop competing and instead become unique. I’ll share a story. Last week a woman emailed me. She wanted information. She told me right up front she was talking to someone else also. This other person lived locally. While I sent a few emails back and forth with her, I knew I could not compete. The new recruit wanted to work with someone local. I could’ve tried to convince her otherwise, but why? Instead I invested my time being unique and doing what I do best, which is sharing my words with others. Wouldn’t you know it, along came an email from someone who liked my words and was interested in joining. That’s where I invested my time.

Very often I see classified ads that are just one ad after the other. There is nothing special or unique about these ads. Every person is competing with every other person there. Try something different. Try being the unique person. Instead of the same headlines as everyone else, try a headline that offers a free eBook or free report. You can easily find these online. Sometimes these reports or ebooks will cost you $5 or so. Just think, for a $5 investment you can start saying “contact me for a free ebook.” You are no longer competing with every other ad out there as I almost never see offers for free reports or free ebooks.

Are you searching for the best self directed IRA investments to take advantage of? Are you looking for a self directed IRA custodian to hold your IRA contributions? Since there are so many different self directed IRA investments and custodians to choose from, it can be difficult finding one that will meet your specific needs. This article will explain which self directed IRA custodian is best for you, and what self directed IRA investments are best to take part in.

First, let’s go over self directed IRA investments. You’re probably familiar with the popular kinds of securities most people ultimately invest it- stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. If you take part in an employer’s 401k plan, or if you opened an IRA at a bank or brokerage firm, these are the investments your money is most likely going towards. Some people may invest in other things, but a large majority of people invest in these kinds of assets.

Then, there is a much smaller group of investors, which accounts for less than 4% of all IRA investors. This group of people choose to hold self directed IRA investments, refusing to let their employer or a financial institution control what their funds are being invested in. These people are not only in complete control of their IRA, but they also have a much wider range of investments to choose from.

So what are the best self directed IRA investments to go with? Currently, there’s been a lot of talk about investing in real estate using a self directed IRA. And in my opinion, real estate currently acts as the best self directed IRA investments to go with. And I’ll tell you why…

Right now, the housing market is FLOODED with foreclosed property. The banks and lending companies want to get back whatever they can for the mortgages that defaulted. And as a result, some real estate properties are being sold at ROCK BOTTOM PRICES. Then, you can sell them to qualified buyers or rent them out and make rental income. If you can locate these hot deals, then get ready to make some serious tax-free returns on your investment.

Alright, onto finding an appropriate self directed IRA custodian. There are a few kinds of self directed IRA custodians. The most popular kind are custodians that will hold your funds and make sure all the necessary paperwork and reports are filed on time and the right way. However, this type of self directed IRA custodian cannot legally give you investment advice. So I encourage you to go with this kind of custodian only if you know what you’re doing.

Then there’s another kind of self directed IRA custodian. Technically, they are not really custodians; they’re really companies that specialize in certain kinds of self directed IRA investments (like real estate). They actually point you in the right direction to a custodian that will fit your investment needs- one like I described above. But, you’re able to get a lot more advice and guidance out of a company like this.

For example, with real estate, I communicate with a company that has a program that specializes in real estate IRA investing. They not only direct you towards an appropriate custodian, but they also find the best real estate deals for you to invest in. They’ll even make all the necessary repairs to the property and find you a qualified buyer to take the property off your hands. So if you don’t know much about IRA real estate investing, then this option is made available specifically for you- in light of the recent housing bubble burst.

The program that I am referring to here involves much more than just self directed IRA investments in real estate though. Not only does it benefit investors, but it also benefits working-class families and urban communities that have been neglected in the past.

With more and more direct response advertising aimed at the Hispanic market, this poses two questions to the advertising professional. Number one, “Is the appeal more effective if made in Spanish?” The answer according to research is a resounding “yes.” According to the Strategy Research Corporation, 96% of Hispanics prefer to receive their information in their first language. Secondly, advertisers need to consider the most effective medium to reach this market. Radio according to the same study is the clear answer. The SRC found that the Hispanic consumer is also a big radio consumer as 92% of Hispanics listen to the radio every day and 9 out of 10 Hispanics listen to Spanish language radio.

The Christian population among Hispanics is especially influential and is a viable advertising target for many consumer driven products. This has certainly been seen in the 2008 Presidential election with both candidates appealing to this growing minority. Prior to the election, Yuri Mantilla, director for International Governmental Relations for Focus on the Family called 2008 as the “Year of the Hispanic”. Said Mantilla, “We are the nation’s largest minority and we are poised to make a difference in some of the tightest races because of our concern for family, for life, and for faith. Hispanics are not a monolithic bloc, but a thriving family community, and our values are the values on which this nation was founded.” As more and more advertising dollars are available to Spanish speaking radio stations, we recommend that direct marketers work closely with copywriters at employed at radio stations. It is their job to make the ad message relevant to the Hispanic consumer. As in all languages, it is not enough to simply translate existing English copy into Spanish, rather it must appeal in Spanish with all Hispanic idioms in place. The best way to lose ground with a Hispanic consumer is to assume our English meaning applies.