G'day! Help us get to know YOU - not just pitch your business. 1. What do you like doing when work is finished and it's time to put your feet up? 2. Do you head outdoors or indoors? Do some gardening or jump on a plane? 3. Bonus points if you share a pic. Me? I like heading for the ocean - smelling the salty sea air, seeing the changing hues of blues and greens, and feeling the cool sea breeze. This is me (or at least my feet) taking in the view at Dee Why on Sydney's Northern Beaches. After you have left your comment, please feel free to read through the other comments and get to know 3 or 4 of your fellow Onliners in the community. Also click on "reply" to say hello or give feedback to other community members.

Disclaimer: this is not financial advice. I'm not a financial advisor and I don't know your personal circumstances. This is for general educational purposes only. Every two weeks I invest part of my earnings from "active capital" into "passive capital". And I have a few guiding principles for doing this, that I've never shared on Skool before, and I thought it might be helpful for anyone just starting out in investing, or reassessing their investment strategy. 1. Be a Lender not a Spender: International Bonds - bond market prices are at the lowest for awhile and lots of people are selling bonds rather than buying at the moment. But regardless of the market timing for me this is based on a Bible blessing that says "You shall lend to many nations, and borrow from none" (Deut 28:12). There are a few different ways to lend to many nations, but the easiest way I know - especially if you're starting small - is to buy $500 worth of a Vanguard bond ETF. The one I buy has mainly US government bonds, but also German, French, Japanese etc. 2. Owner and a Spender: Retail Stocks - This is another bible-based habit. Jesus said "And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?" (Luke 16:12). So part of my spending is if I can find that company's shares on the stock exchange, I'll buy a share of ownership in the company. This goes for everything from my weekly groceries to take away food, petrol for my car, and my iPhone. 3. Future Investing: there's an old saying about the future "The future of investing is investing in the future". In Jeremiah 29:11 we learn that God's plans to prosper us include giving us a future and a hope. So I look for growth, innovation and tech stocks. For example some AI and chip stocks at the moment are seeing phenomenal returns of more than 100% in less than a year, and more than 1000% over the last 5 years. 4. Cashflow Calendar: the bible compares a person who prospers in everything they do to a tree that bears fruit in season. Since I have to spend every season, I want to have income every season. So I buy some dividend-yielding stocks based on when they pay out during the year. That way I can create monthly cashflow using a dividend calendar. e.g. Commonwealth Bank in March, Woolworths in April, Harvey Norman in May etc. Even if you use the Dividend Reinvestment Plan to compound your assets and purchase more stocks rather than taking the cash, it's good to know you can convert it to monthly cash if/when you want. 5. Balancing Risk: seasons in Australia are not the same as in the US and at any one time there is usually one area of the global market that is prospering while another area is struggling. So it doesn't hurt to have some of your personal portfolio in assets that fill the gaps and may be overlooked by others. For me this is often the area where I'm learning about new markets e.g. commodoties or currencies I haven't bought before. But balancing risk also includes having some cash (in a high interest account). So that's my thinking around investing. What's yours? Anything you strongly agree or disagree with?

But most people treat them like they are. No progress only compounds to nothing. But slow progress can compound into a future fortune. Every giant tree starts slowly from one tiny seed. But if you don't sow and you leave that same powerful seed on the shelf it grows into nothing at all. Apparently Albert Einstein said, “The most powerful force in the Universe is compound interest.” Small numbers that keep growing are the most powerful thing in business. A single dollar becomes two, then twenty, then fifty and a hundred dollars. A hundred becomes two hundred. Two hundred becomes five hundred. Five hundred becomes two thousand. And two thousand becomes the month that changes everything. But only if you don't quit when it looks s-l-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-w. Quitting *guarantees* no progress! I heard this today from @Mark Douglas : "The beginning was ugly. The middle was quiet. But the end looked like cheating!" Trust me it gets easier, and it gets faster. The people who built something real? Almost every single one of them *almost* quit at the same exact point... Right before it started working. When I first started on Skool my affiliate earnings (passive income) was only $4 in the first month. But it was $4 that hapened without me doing any work. And it keeps coming in month after month without me doing any work while I'm out enjoying my life. Now that $4 (and others like it) has compounded into over $100. That's still small for some. But I can see the day when it compounds into more than a $1,000 - and beyond. TURN THE TAP ON. Don't worry about how small the first drops are ... it can soon become a more powerful stream of income than you ever imagined. If you haven't started yet, here's the first step #Make Your First Skool Dollar $