How.I.created.my.Wealth

8/8/2019 How.I.created.my.Wealth

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Special Report

HOW

I CREATED

MY

WEALTH

By Carolyn Waters


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Copyright 2008 by Millionaire Matters, LLC

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in

writing by the publisher.

Published by

Millionaire Matters, LLC

1080 Wigwam Parkway

Henderson, NV 89074

website: www.millionaire-matters.com


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A message from the heart

I have had the great fortune throughout my life to be both teacher and student -student of the school of hard knocks (in wealth building) and teacher of how to

avoid that same school.

My success in wealth building has led me to the passion and purpose of helping as

many people as possible learn how to create financial abundance for themselves

and their families.

I can sum up the victories Ive had over the years helping clients build financial

freedom with one powerful story.

Several years ago, I had a new client referral come into my office looking for awealth plan to lead him out of his miserable corporate job. Lets call him Joe (not

his real name for confidentiality purposes). Joe explained that he had been very

happy for years, but his company had recently promoted a snot-nosed college kid

as his boss. Now snot-nose was ordering him around on a daily basis with half

thought out ideas and ego driven decisions.

Joe told me he could hardly stand it anymore. He had worked loyally for his

company for over 20 years. Now he had to take orders from someone less than

half his age and practically no real experience. As he told me his story, Joe was

in a half-panic state. He desperately needed to find a way out of this mess.

I agreed to see if I could find a solution for him. We set up a second meeting.

After analyzing his financial situation, I presented him with a plan to be

financially free immediately! He left my office retiredfinancially freeand

with tears of joy.

Its being able to help people with this kind of life changing (dream making)

experiences that has changed me. Granted, in Joes case, he had substantial assets

to work with. All I had to do was creatively re-arrange them in order to help him

retire. However, this is a prime example of the power of proper wealth planning

and implementation. He had the resources he needed to be free. He just didnt

know HOW to arrange them. I provided the solution.


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Successes and Failures

There have been many successes for my clients and myself in wealth creationduring the last twelve years in my job as a Certified Financial Planner TM. There

have also been some challenges. The stock market crashed in 2000 (some may

argue it was not a crash, but it sure felt like one). Real estate declined severely in

the last couple of years (values in many areas are down over 30% at the time of

this writing). Add that on top of the average risk factors involved in investing and

growing wealth and it all adds up to wide ride at times. But, just as there have

been challenges, there have also been success stories.

I always test more aggressive wealth building strategies on myself first. Ive

personally enjoyed huge financial gains in just months (435% in 10 months). Illdetail this story later in this report.

I have built successful partnerships. Other partnerships didnt work out. Ive

made investments that accomplished my goals (a real estate deal making 35%

return in one year). While others that did not perform well (real estate that was

supposed to be flipped for a profit and now sits as a rental with no current

market).

I have invested in both good and bad deals. The bottom line isthrough all of

itI created wealth. I truly went from a welfare Mom thirty years ago with a

negative net worth to my trademarked title today, Millionaire and Beyond TM.

The advice I offer in this report is based on thirty years of practical experience. I

have had many successes. Ive made mistakes. I know how to make the right

decisions. If I advise you to do something, its because I want you to build

wealth quickly and avoid the mistakes.

First Lesson in How Not to Make Money

When I first started out in the financial services industry I worked at a major

Wall Street firm. Since I had no rich friends or relatives, I had to build a business

from scratch. Back then the way most new stock brokers built their business

was by cold calling. I was that irritating caller that rang up right around dinner

time trying to sell someone a money market account with check book privileges.


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I went to the office at 7:30 every morning. I worked until 8-8:30 each night, cold

calling my butt offfive days a week. On Saturdays I went in and worked

another half a day. In an industry that has a 95% drop out rate in the first fiveyears, I found myself in the top 5% who made it.

At what costand for what reward, I finally asked myself? I worked so hard that

most weeks, by Friday evening I had talked on the phone so much I no longer had

a voice. When I tried to say good night, all I could do was croak out a horse

good-by as I stepped into the elevator.

I had to start taking anti-depressants to survive the rejection of cold calling. My

boss made Attila the Hun look like a nice guy.

I continued this grueling ordeal for two-and-a-half years. I earned an average of$32,000 a year. I felt like I had sold my souland for what? Less money than I

could have easily made doing many other jobs.

The point isI didnt think it through. I worked too hard for too little reward. I

thought the prestige of being a stock broker was going to be worth all the effort.

The reality wasthe company got richer while I could barely pay my bills.

So, the moral of the first lesson on how not to make money is thismake sure

that you at least have the chance for a decent reward before you throw your

precious effort behind ANY VENTURE. Especially wealth building ones.

I am positive I can help you avoid this and many other wealth building mistakes.

Im even more certain because I have learned and then taught so many people

how to build wealth correctly.

Im confident that I can help you, too.

My Get Rich Decision

You dont have to be super smart to get rich. You dont have to be lucky, or have

a rich relative, either. All you have to do is learn certain rules about money andthe process that wealthy people use. Then duplicate it. I call the rules and the

process for wealth building Millionaire Matters TM. That literally means the

things that millionaires do to get rich. It is the rules and the process they follow.

Do what they do and soon you will be getting the same results.


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Many people have asked me why I wanted to use the word Millionaire in my

companys name and promotion. Its because it is something we can all relate to.

Millionaire generally implies that you have reached a level that is above theaverage American lifestyle. Its a level that signifies abundance and a certain

success. However, it is not an end, but just the beginning to becoming completely

financially secure. As we all know, dollars do not buy what they used to. Future

dollars will buy even less.

If you are minding your Millionaire Matters, it means you are consistently

following your wealth blueprint. You are focused on your wealth building

timetable. Without that, no wealth will ever be built.

There were a couple of things that happened to me that turned out to be vitally

important in my own wealth building success story.

One was when I read the book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. I

started to understand the difference between purchasing assets versus liabilities.

The term leverage took on a whole new meaning. The next change was when I

read the book, The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William

Danko. They revealed that the average millionaire spends more time working

with and focusing on their finances then most Americans do. In fact,

millionaires spend far more time on wealth building.

When I first read that I thought, Well sure, they have more money, so they haveto spend more time managing it. But then, after thinking about it further, this

thought popped into my head, What if, just for the heck of it, I were to spend

more time thinking, focusing on and planning my wealtheven though I didnt

have that much yet? So that is what I did.

I got up every morning, turned on my computer and stared at my list of assets (or

lack thereof) and my net worth. Id stare at it and try to figure out if I could get

my bottom line to grow. My husband would stroll by every morning (my office

was in the hallway) and ask me what I was doing. I told him that I was

WILLING our net worth to get bigger. Amazingly, before too long that is exactlywhat happened.

During a period of a little over two years our net worth (assets minus liabilities

everything you own minus everything you owe) went from $150,000 (mostly in

home equity and a couple of very small 401ks) to over 1.5 million! After that,

there was no looking back.


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Your Get Rich Decision

The moral of the story. If you focus on building your wealth, it will grow. Justlike that old clich of the ball field getting built in the movie, If you build it, he

will come. Well, if you focus on ityou can become wealthy, too.

I can help you learn what to focus on.

Ive learned that becoming rich is not a matter of coming from an affluent family.

It is not about having special privilege or any of the other things that many people

think prevents them from getting there.

Its simply a matter of practicing certain habits and skills. Its being willing to

keep an open mind andtaking action that separates the winners from the rest.

Ten Tips to Wealth Building

Here are ten tips you can use to help propel you to a Millionaire and Beyond TM

net worth:

1. Make up your mind you are going to be wealthy and focus on it.

Ok, I know many of you are going to say this sounds absolutely obvious, but it is

also as obvious that most people want to be rich, but few really make it there.

How many of us havent heard somebody saying that they have a retirement plan.

It consists of waiting for some rich relative to die or winning the lottery.

Im sorry, folks. You can wait for Aunt Hattie to die and leave you a bundle. But

she will probably live to be 112, or leave her fortune to her beloved cat

Whiskers. Maybe you can keep dreaming youll win the Lotto? Your odds of

that happening are something like 1 in 100 gazillion. Dream on.

First off, people that became wealthy made up their minds to be wealthy, period.

Once they decided to become wealthy, they took action to that end.

Next, they focused on how to build wealth. Its funny how this Natural Law

worksYou become what you focus on. Heres an example.


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If you decide that you are going to become good at riding a motorcycle, then you

have to do some very specific things. First you have to buy or borrow a bike to

ride. You have to get on it and learn how the controls work. Then you have totake the plunge by getting out on the road and riding it to see how it feels. If you

do that long enough, day after day, you will become an accomplished rider. You

focused on the goal of riding a motorcycle. Then you took the actions necessary

to become an expert at it.

It works the same way with building wealth. You focus on the fact that you are

going to build your wealth. Then you get the tools, education and circle of wealth

professionals you need (more on that later). You determine a plan (wealth

blueprint). You implement the plan. You continue to practice. You keep working

on it until you are an expert at it. Before long, youll be getting richer.

2. Understand the Law of FinancesIf you plan to be wealthy, then you must have more money coming in than going

out. If you earn $50,000 a year and have to spend $60,000 to maintain your

choice of lifestyle, you are going backwards into the pit of debt. If this is

happening to you, take heart and read on.

Regardless if you earn $50,000, $75,000, $100,000 or even $500,000 a year, it

can be difficult to get ahead if you dont get the Law of Finances on your side.

Lets face it, we can always find a way to spend all we earn and more if we arenot careful. That is easy to do. The harder we work for our money, the more we

feel entitled to a richer lifestyle. So, consequently, we buy a bigger house,

fancier car, and bigger toys. Then we wonder why our net worth is not growing?

We can always figure out how to spend more than we make. That is why it is

absolutely crucial to keep your lifestyle comfortable yet BELOW your income in

order to build wealth effectively.

However, I personally believe that in order to conform to the Law of Finances, it

is not a matter of cutting back on expenditures as much as it is figuring out

passive and additional active income streams to create the life you desire (and, in

turn, pay all your bills).

The key point is, there is a big difference in focus here. One stresses abundance

(growing passive income assets) while the other one stresses lack (having to cut


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back on lifestyle choices). You can choose to focus either way and the Law of

Finances will be complied with. One is just more fun than the other.

3. Become your own financial advisorI had a distinct advantage when building my own personal wealth. I already

understood different stock market and real estate investments. I had worked as a

Stock Broker/Certified Financial Planner TM , and in real estate before that. But

remember, I started out on welfare with no rich relatives to teach me this stuff. So

if I can do it, you can do it.

Once I made the decision and started focusing on wealth building, I identified

opportunities, risk levels, tax consequences and other investment nuances for both

traditional investments (like the stock market) and alternative investments (likereal estate) easier than many others who didnt have my training.

The main thing to understand is that you can learn this to do this, too. Granted,

you wont want to take thirty years to learn it. But you can learn how rather

quickly with excellent support, believe me. As I said before, if I can do it, you

can too. For a free resource and place to start - download the glossary of

investment terms from my website at www.millionaire-matters.com. This will

help you start familiarizing yourself with the language of investing (and it is a

logical place to start).

4. Maximize your balance sheetThe reason I was able to help my client Joe retire immediately was because he

had substantial assets on his balance sheet that were invested inefficiently.

He had done a good job of complying with the Law of Finances. He spent less

than he earned and had saved a bunch. But his assets were not positioned

correctly. He had too much money stored in his checking account earning zero.

He had large quantities of low yielding CD investments. He had some growth

funds in his 401K as well as some other scattered low yielding investmentsnone

of them maximized like they could have been.

I moved his portfolio into some safe (AAA) rated municipal bonds paying around

4.5% and some higher yielding preferred stock paying between 7-8%. I also

mixed in some growth investments with an underlying asset guarantee earning an


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average of 12% yearly (youll have to call me to find out about this one). After

that, he was free!

Many times, if you just utilize your own assets more efficiently, you can get to

your wealth goals much faster. I refer to this process as balance sheet

maximization. Maximize yours and watch what happens.

5. Understand slow road investingThe slow road of investing involves strategies that you are probably very familiar

with. It means you set aside a substantial part of your earnings (at least 10%).

Then put it into a safe savings plan that is earning a slow but steady rate of

return.

I say relatively because one persons safe is another persons high risk. I would

say CDs at a bank are relatively safe because they are government guaranteed.

But, they may not keep up with inflation like some other investments. Some

people believe that their 401K invested in the stock market is pretty safe. That

could be true if you ride it long enough. It depends on the risk level of the actual

mutual fund they chose inside the 401k.

In either case, both CDs or a 401k invested in the traditional stock market have

one thing in common. They are SLOW. Slowbut you need them.

You need an automatic savings plan going into something that will be there foryou years from now when you retire. I believe you need approximately half of

your investment assets (50%) going into this slow road. CDs and 401ks are just

the tip of the iceberg though.

I highly recommend that you start educating yourself on all of the slow road

investments that are available. (One resource to do this will be a professional in

your wealth circle more on that later).

Lets look at the math of a slow road wealth journey. It involves the power of

compound interest. Lets say that you want to create financial freedom foryourself in ten years. Well assume that you are going to earn a 10% rate of

return when you start living off your nest egg and you want an income of

$120,000 a year. In that case, you will need 1.2 million invested at 10% to throw

off enough passive income to make that happen for you.


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Lets say that you are 45 years old and you want to retire in 10 years at age 55.

You have $80,000 saved in your 401k at work and not much else. You continue

to put 10% of your paycheck in there which amounts to $12,000 per year (thatsassuming you earn $120,000 a year now). You earn an average of 12% a year

because you pay attention and keep your investments maximized by readjusting

as necessary and diversifying. In 10 years you will have $484,323 which invested

at 10% interest is $48,432 in yearly income. Short of your goal, but it makes a

dent. (A dent is good).

Now lets see what happens if you up the contribution amount every year by say

an extra quarter ($3000 more for a total of $15,000 saved). The total amount you

earned at 12% return is now $543,289 or $54,328 in yearly income.

Heres one more scenario. If you upped it by $3,000 more for a total of $18,000

saved at 12% you would be at a total of $602,250 or $60,225 at 10% per year in

retirement.

Obviously this is only half way to your goal of $120,000. But you have only

invested half your investable income into the slow road if you have done it

correctly. Half your income into half (50%) of your invested assets = half your

retirement in ten years using the slow road.

Now, how do you make up the difference between that $60,225 and the $120,000

you desire?

6. Understand fast road investingYou accomplish it by using what I call the fast road. You will invest the other

50% of your total holdings using this technique.

Step One: You should invest in real estate (including the residence in which you

live. This should equal no more than 10% of your total 50% fast road holdings)

Note - In both your residence and your investment properties you will do your

homework and due diligence correctly and not be over leveraged so you lose yourproperty to foreclosure like so many have done recently.

Step Two: You will learn how to grow a side business (using your own special

skill set).

Step Three: You learn how to use OPM (Other Peoples Money).


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Lets look at these in order.

7. Buy Real EstateReal Estate is one of the few areas where you can find bargains in any market. If

you buy a stock in the stock market youre pretty much forced to pay what the

going price is the day you decide to buy it.

This is not true with real estate. Due to the fact that many sellers of real estate are

selling because of less than ideal circumstances, you can often find a bargain

basement price within your locality.

Many owners are trying to sell quickly because they have to move out of town fortheir job. Or, God forbid, like many have had to do recently selling the house to

avoid foreclosure when their adjustable rate mortgage kicked in and they could no

longer afford the payments.

Regardless of circumstances, besides a bargain price, you maintain substantial

control over your investment (analyze your own numbers, decide what

neighborhood, how many bedrooms, etc.) That gives you even more control over

the return. You can chose from many different strategies: fixers, foreclosures,

rentals in residential and commercial, development, etc.

Check out my website at www.millionaire-matters.com for a list of all the

different wealth strategy classes available.

Real Estate is not without its challenges. I am the first to admit that it is not for

everyone. You must be willing to do some active work and you have to

understand what you are doing. However, if you learn to do it right, you can

accumulate a good deal of wealth investing in it part-time.

Depending on location, the average home in America appreciates 4-7% per year.

If you put down a 20% down payment and break even on the cash flow (a renter

makes your mortgage payment and all other property expenses) and you earn 6%

per year over a five year period, you will actually earn a 34% return on your down

payment.

Heres how. You earn the appreciation on the ENTIRE house, but you only used

20% of your own money (and borrowed the rest from the bank).


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This is how you begin to use leverage to create fast roadinvestments. Realize

that this is just one strategy. There are many others. These fast road strategies

are what make up the other 50% savings you will need to become financially free.

8. Create a side business for extra cash for investingBesides owning real estate, the next best way to grow your wealth is to create

more cash flow. If you create more cash flow you will have more money left over

to invest in more assets (real estate or others).

The best thing about creating a side business is that you can use skills you already

have. Not only that, the return you will get from this extra effort will be

immeasurable because you can use all of the extra earnings to invest in your other

assets. This will really put your balance sheet into high gear.

The trick is to discipline yourself to invest every extra dollar. Definitely do not

give up your day job until you have perfected your new business model. Try to

choose something you enjoy and preferably something you already know a little

bit about from your current skill set. That way you wont have a big learning

curve, either.

9. Use OPM (Other Peoples Money)This is actually my very favorite fast roadinvesting strategy. With this strategy

you use little or none of your own money to get started.

Many times when I am teaching new students about building wealth I will be

asked the question, How do I get started investing if I have no money to invest?

Good question. The answer is even better. You dont use your own money.

Let me digress for just a moment to tell you a story about this. When I made my

first significant real estate deal I barely had $1,000 in the bank. I looked for six

months for two building lots. I had a plan to build two spec (speculation) housesfor profit.

After spending half a day every Saturday for six months looking all over town, I

finally found a good deal. (You may have to look at hundreds of deals to find a

good one, so be prepared to put in the time).


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Once I found the deal, I went to a friend and asked to borrow $80,000 for the

down payment. I agreed that I would get a loan to cover the cost of the lots. I

would also do all of the work involved in having the houses built. I prepared avery well thought out plan with all the potential profit figures down on paper.

Then I presented my proposal to my friend. He agreed to be a 50/50 partner. He

put up the $80,000, and I did all the work.

During that time the market in Las Vegas was going crazy. It was one of the

fastest growing cities in the U.S. People were pouring in from everywhere.

Prices were soaring due to the population explosion and rapid growth. By the end

of ten months I had invested $28,000 in loan payments, blueprints and other site

work for the project. Meantime, the lots had DOUBLED their original value.

After a short meeting, my friend and I decided to just sell the lots and not evenbuild the houses (even though we were ready to break ground on the

construction). We sold the lots in less than a month after listing them. He made

152% return on his money in only 10 months. I made 435%.

Heres my point. If we hadnt been in the deal, we wouldnt have made all that

money.

If I would have waited until I had the money on my own, the deal would have

never happened at all!

So, the moral of this story isdont wait until you have the money. Find a gooddeal. Find a partner. Work out the details and a fair proposal. You might have

the time and expertise to handle a good investmentwhile your partner has the

money to invest, but no time. Its a win-win situation.

Heres something else to think about. The rate of return if you use none of your

own money in an investment that pays off is infinity! (Incalculable)

Try using OPM. I think youll like it. You trade time and expertise for money.

Im still doing it today, and it still works like a charm.


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10. Get a wealth circleThe last shortcut to building wealth is: no man is an island. Most of the time, we

are alone when we look at our balance sheet. Its a very personal thing.

However, my best advice is, if you want to build up your balance sheet you really

should seek help. Wealthy people use other wealthy people to help them on their

quest. I recommend you have a circle of wealth professionals with these

credentials to help you:

Certified Financial Planner TM (of course!)

Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

Local residential Realtors

Out of state Realtors

Commercial Realtors

Mortgage Broker

Business Attorney

Bankers

Other investment providers for traditional stock market investments

Other investment providers for non-traditional investments (like trust

deeds, promissory notes, oil and gas, etc.)

Get going on your wealth quest

Sometimes knowing and doing are two different things. There is a

wonderful writer by the name of Robert Ringer who has written manybestselling books for over thirty years. He is one of my favorite authors

because he tells it like it is and advocates understanding and accepting

truth.


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In his most recent book, Nothing Happens Until Something Moveshe

details how important it is to take ACTION even if you dont have all the

details worked out yet.

I completely agree with him. When I first started sitting at my desk every

morning WILLING my net worth to get larger, I didnt understand all of

the moves I had to make to create wealth. I understood some, but not all.

I worked to educate myself on the parts that I didnt understand very

clearly (like what a trust deed was and how it worked like how to get

involved in land development with no money to start with).

Next I took ACTION every day to make growing my wealth into a realty.

I developed a larger circle of wealth professionals to help with my goal

and help they did.

Belief equals results

I believe that if you take that action to build your wealth, you will build

your wealth.

I believe that if you will begin the quest you will learn something that mayhave eluded you for a long time (like how to find financial security once

and for all).

I believe that you can surround yourself with a circle of caring wealth

professionals that will help you achieve your retirement lifestyle.

I believe with a passion and purpose in helping you build your dream (if

you want it).

If I can do it, you can do it

When I started, I was living in a chicken coup with no walls. I was a

teenage welfare Mom. I barely had money to buy food. Eventually I


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made it through two years of a community college in the small town in

Michigan where I grew up.

I have no rich relatives. It took me thirty years to figure it out. I am still

learning new tricks every day. But if I can come from where I was and

become rich, you can come from where you are. I am certain of that.

I dont want you to

just hope for your dream,

I want to help you realize it

Maybe you want to quit working sooner rather than later. Maybe you

want to make sure you help your kids through college or just want to make

sure they could go to college if they wanted to.

Maybe you want to have bragging rights or maybe its something more

noble like wanting to leave a bundle to charity.

I dont know what your dream is.

But what I am sure of is that you have one.

We all do.

What are you doing about realizing yours?

Time moves like a rocket. Youre 20, you blink and youre 40. Pretty

soon your dream becomes something you just talk about instead of acting

on. It happens all the time.

Its hard to work, come home, make dinner, help your family, sleep, get upand do it all over again. I understand completely. Life just keeps going

by.


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I also know you are worth carving out a few minutes a day to find security

for yourself and your family. And truly thats all it takes to begin building

your dream lifestyle.

Through my company, the Millionaire Strategies Institute, LLC, I strive to

help you learn how to use every conceivable investment available to

build your wealth quickly and create financial freedom for the rest of

your life.

In Summary: I help with wealth building classes, wealth mentoring and

planning, and a ready-made wealth circle of providers that you can partner

with to help with any part of your wealth quest that youll ever need.

Good wealth building to you!

I hope I have given you some sound advice in this special report. I hope it

motivates you to grab hold and do something to make your dreams come

true. You deserve it!

Let me know if there is anything I can do to help. You can reach me

through my website at www.millionaire-matters.com.

Make it happen!

Carolyn Waters

P.S. My new book entitled, From Welfare to Millionaire and Beyond is

due to be released very soon. If you signed up to be on the E-mail list,

youll receive notice when the book comes out.


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Published by:

Millionaire Matters, LLC

1080 Wigwam Parkway

Henderson, NV 89074

Website: www.millionaire-matters.com

How.I.created.my.Wealth

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