Seeking $100 Million for Private Equity Real Estate

Equipped with world class leadership and portfolio diversity, private equity trust Kearsedge Boston seeks $100M funding round in Q1 of 2018. Contact us now for details or check out our website at www.kearsedgeboston.com.

Ever Wake Up Being Attacked by Life?

Do you ever wake up and life seems to ATTACK you?

The kids are demanding everything possible…

The dogs are barking…

Your boss is texting (everything’s URGENT right?)

Well I have a quick “cheat” to fix this.

It’s simple, and when I do it, nobody even notices.

The results?

Clarity and control over all these “attention attacks”

=> Watch how to do it here http://www.empowernetwork.com/dailyshow/Episode-195-Rising-up-above-it-ft-William-Wood?id=5992105

See you inside,

Perry

P.S. Did you know every Tuesday night we hold a private, member’s only event where we focus on ONE topic to take your business and life to the next level?

It’s called the Next Level Mastermind, and if you’re a member, you already have access.

If you’re not, go through today’s Daily Shortcut, access the bonus content, and get access to our community.

=> Watch today’s episode, HERE

The Evolution of Naval Warfare: The Next 50 Years

The First Iteration

The first iteration of future naval warfare will be a continuation of current trends and procurements, extension of current capabilities and expansion of the fleet along current conventional naval force structure and infrastructure. We can consider this as "the day after tomorrow."

This first iteration will begin the integration of all arms and services into a combined operations scheme commanded by a theater commander; a flag officer whether general or admiral, who has cross-interservice experience and ideally has as a junior officer, crossed from one service to another or as a senior or flag officer has been an observor at exercises and operations of another service.

The fleet will have increased to 12 supercarriers, 14 amphibious assault carriers in whatever configuration, (LPD, LHD, etc), an increase of from 4 to 8 submarines, increase of from 2 to 5 littoral warfare ships (with increased lethality and survivability), an increase of 5 destroyers, recommissioning of 3 to 5 cruisers and recommissioning of 12 to 15 frigates and an increase of 8 to 12 support vessels.

In a conflict, the theater commander will oversee a combined arms, combined service operation. The Navy will not function independently. Rather, Air Force and space assets will provide surveillance, targeting, damage assessment and communications, Army and Marine units on the ground will occupy forward areas to provide artillery and missile support, help protect shore facilities and coastlines and target nearby ships and vessels with artillery and missiles while also providing air defense. Air Force assets will provide ground and air surveillance, communications and air control and support deconfliction and attack naval targets while maintaining its traditional role.

Functional commands will include space assets, cybernetic forces, psy/PR/media/social media operations, Special Operations Command (including SEALS, Air Force, Army, Marines) and logistics and Coast Guard.

The conflict will not only be highly congested and highly conflicted, it will also be highly violent. Satellites will provide not only C4ISR, but will also station kinetic energy weapons, possibly as low technology as a 5 meter rod of tungsten steel wrapped in space shuttle heat shielding. The use of the rod upon a target will release energy perhaps as great as that of a Hiroshima bomb.

Special Forces will penetrate far inland to identify, target and assess battle damage against selected targets and may conduct raids, elimination of select leadership or facilities, or neutralization of command centers, logistics nodes (electrical generation, refineries, mines, railroads, roads, bridges, dams, TV and radio stations) and support elements and energy grids.

Kinetic energy weapons will also target cybernetic warfare centers, channels and nodes while cyberforces may affect public media (internet, radio and TV) providing real world or psy op viewpoints of the conflict.

Procurement of truly modular LCS craft will increase. Procurement and training and development of tactics of "Ghost" craft will also begin.

The first iteration will freeze procurement of surface ships larger than destroyer size and begin the procurement of drones and training of swarming tactics and training of all arms, all services integration and drone warfare and training plus the training of an extended and expanded psy op command.

The Second Iteration

The second iteration will see a fleet with no surface ships larger than destroyers other than perhaps 2 to 4 supercarriers, 3 to 5 amphibious assault carriers and 3 to 5 cruisers. Support vessels and diaster relief vessels will number as determined by the national command authority and will be sized and configured as necessary to support their relief and support missions.

Destroyer and frigate sized vessels will begin the transition to drone command and control platforms while continuing some of their current combat capabilities. New classes of destroyers and frigates will begin entering the fleet with a mission of drone command and control and will number approximately 10 to 15 with another 8 to 12 destroyers and frigates in conventional roles and mission configurations and 12 to 20 destroyers and/or frigates in a role of missile platforms.

Littoral combat vessels may number up to 40 and be truly modular with multi-mission roles, with swapouts of modular mission packages shortening to no more than 12 hours. LCS vessels may see a further role of evacuation, insertion of special forces, support of landing operations, disaster relief, logistics support, missile platforms, drone command and control, drone transport and repair, drone munitions tenders, Coast Guard interdiction, fleet support, air defense et al. Newer LCS' will employ greater lethality, greater survivability and greater stealth.

"Ghost" craft will be integrated into the fleet and will number at least 50 with increasing procurement throughout the second iteration. "Ghost" craft will be useful in littoral combat roles, suppression of pirates and swarming tactics by enemy forces, interdiction and surveillance of enemy shipping.

Drones will begin to be refueled in flight by other drones and initiate the era of drone attacks in redundancy from many points of the compass. Air Force fighter drones will complement Naval fighter drones while Army ground support and attack drones support Air Force attack drones. Coast Guard drones will provide interdiction and defense while also providing communications and surveillance of facilities outside the theater of conflict.

The Army role of missile and artillery support will have expanded and Air Force, space, Army and Navy drones will provide targeting and battle assessment; both damage assessment and current battle assessment. Drones in the second iteration may have a multimission function, but these separate missions will be limited to no more than 3 to 5 roles per drone to limit size and cost and increase stealth, survivability and lethality. Drones will integrate various elements of autonomy depending upon the stage of evolution in which they came off the manufacturing train with later evolutions encompassing greater and greater autonomy.

Reducing the size and missions of each drone will increase the size of the manufacturing base of the basic drone body but security regimens surrounding stealth, communications, weapons and software may pose bottle necks in assembly and production if manufacturers cannot meet security requirements.

EMP stealth drones may enter at this iteration with the mission of penetrating enemy air space and generating EMP bursts over enemy facilities and targets. There will also be jamming stealth drones, communications interception stealth drones and mis/disinformation interjection stealth drones.

The submarine force may have increased by a further 2 to 8 boats with mission roles of attack, missile platforms, special forces platforms, mine layers and drone control and command. Submarine drones will include surveillance drones, communications interception, command and control, stealth mine drones and others as determined are necessary to meet fleet missions in the second iteration. Submarine drones will increase in number from the end of the first iteration of 10 to 20 to over 100 by the end of the second iteration.

Officers at all levels will have interservice experience and service with allied and friendly forces.

The battle space in the second iteration will, if anything, be more congested, more conflicted and more violent and may extend into other dimensions - public media, education, domestic infrastructure, quantum physics, alliances and public and world opinion. Electronic warfare drones will be essential to effective management and prosecution of the conflict and will include electronic warfare drones, electronic counter-warfare drones and electronic counter-counter warfare drones.

The Third Iteration

The fleet is nearly invisible and, in a sense, nearly non-existent as it consists of only 20 or so surface ships of frigate and destroyer size plus about 20 LCS'. A handful of the destroyer/frigates may be missile platforms while the remainder are assigned to the drone operations command. The submarine force has stabilized at about 90 platforms of which at least 20 are dedicated to drone operations. All surface ships and all drones employ a high degree of stealth.

Most missiles are now launched from stealth missile drones. Some Ghost craft are also missile platforms as well as several of the LCS'. Space drones launch kinetic weapons and manuver to target enemy space assets, as well as providing C4ISR to the national command authority.

The battle space consists of surface, submarine, air, ground and space and includes cyber command, space command, alliance management, public opinion management, quantum operations, logistics, infrastructure,

More To Come...

Is It Better to Be Rich or Wealthy?

What is "rich"? How many people would like to be rich?

We all know people that we consider to be rich. We look up to them, we admire them, we aspire to be like them - we want to be them!

The rich have beautiful homes. Their homes are located in the most posh neighborhoods: Boca Raton, Malibu, Beverly Hills, Bel Aire.

The rich drive expensive cars; Porsche, Bugatti, Maserati, Ferrari.

The rich have the finest clothes and attend the most exclusive events; Cannes Film Festival, Milan Fashion Show, Sundance, the Oscars, the Emmys. They appear on Dancing with the Stars and have their own reality shows.

The rich vacation in the most exotic locations; the south of France, Aruba, Cancun, Monaco, Hawaii, the Caribbean, Fiji. They arrive there in private jets whether they borrowed it, leased it or they own it. The truly rich don't fly first class.

The rich are healthy with the best skin because they have the best doctors. They have the most beautiful or handsome significant others.

How do you know when you are rich? You know you're rich when you have a rich neighbor or co-worker or fellow small business owner or golf partner and you have a fatter bank account than they do or you spend more on your extravagant lifestyle.

You know you're rich when you spend more money than someone you think is rich.

And that's a key. Being rich is about spending money. It's about spending money to maintain - or attain - the lifestyle you believe is "rich." Whatever you believe is the amount of money required to live the lifestyle of the rich is the amount of money you must obtain in order to spend it.

Being rich is a lifestyle. It is a series of choices based on a pattern of spending. Anybody can be rich if they spend enough whether they earn it, inherit it, beg it, borrow it or steal it. How you got the money is secondary to having the money.

So what is wealth? Being rich is a state of mind but being wealthy is a statement of fact.

Okay. So what does that mean? From our discussion we have learned that being rich is all about the money you have and the money you spend.

Being rich is having enough money to spend on the lifestyle you desire - it is largely a construct of your mind. The toys, the houses, the clothes, the cars; these are all choices you make to appear rich and feel rich.

Being wealthy is a statement of fact. Wealth is not how much money you spend, it's how much you have and it's how much you own.

Yet being wealthy is much more specific than that: Wealth is the passive income you receive from the assets you own.

We're going to step back a bit. If you had Economics 101, you know there is something called the "Factors of Production." The Factors of Production are the inputs, resources and processes used to produce something. In Classical Economics there are only four Factors of Production: Land, Labor, Capital and Entrepreneurship.

Land includes the natural resources from which the raw material required to make something comes. Labor is the action applied to those resources. Capital is the equipment required to affect change upon those resources and Entrepreneurship is the process of directing the action to produce goods.

If you possessed these Factors of Production and if you worked them, they would generate an income that would support a lifestyle. If you wanted to improve your living standards and live a more affluent lifestyle, all you would have to do is acquire more of the Factors of Production.

Today, modern economists may include intellectual property or may differentiate capital into working capital, fixed capital (the machinery and equipment involved in the production of goods) and financial capital.

For our purposes we are going to rename these and reclassify the Factors of Production as the Factors of Wealth:

1. Real Estate
2. Equipment, Machinery and Tools
3. Intellectual Property
4. Labor
5. Capital

Real estate includes not only natural resources but also the structures, factories and other buildings built on the land.

Intellectual property includes copyrights, patents and processes that you can license.

Labor is the action applied to the inputs that produce goods and services and Capital we restrict to Financial Capital.

In and of themselves, these factors - or assets - are worthless. In order to produce worth; in order to produce wealth, these factors must be acted upon and that is where the Factor of Labor comes in.

Not only must we act on these assets but we must also sell the goods and services produced. Whatever you are able to sell at a profit is your income. It is easy to acquire more income, you simply acquire more assets that can be worked.

The secret of wealth is this: Acquire more assets and sell more products to more people.

Whereas rich is directly tied to the state of your money and is dependent upon the vagaries of the market, wealth is only indirectly tied to the booms and busts of the business cycle.

If you own a lot of assets like factories, office buildings and warehouses then your income will be more directly related to market cycles than assets like apartment buildings, offices leased to the government, medical facilities and insurance companies.

Other assets are also less exposed to market fluctuations; copyrights, equipment you lease out for commodity transportation, licenses, timber rights and certain natural resources, among others.

Riches are very shortsighted looking at only what you can spend today. Wealth takes the long view; what can you acquire today to produce more passive income tomorrow? Rich is tactical. Wealth is strategic.

People will always need to eat so you may want to invest in agricultural assets, including cattle ranches. Vineyards may be a good investment. It is unfortunate, but wars and hostilities between nations and peoples will most likely increase over time so investing in defense industries and shipyards may also be good investments.

Regardless of what happens in the 'real world," governments will only grow making investments in facilities and residential assets that you rent to federal and state governments a possible favorable asset sector to own.

All the products that people require on a regular basis need to be moved from where they are produced to where they are consumed suggesting that trains, freight companies, cargo companies and trucking firms may prove a viable investment.

As the population ages, more and more people will require healthcare and the pharmaceuticals to maintain their health. Investing in hospitals, health care facilities and pharmaceuticals could be a lucrative means of building wealth.

In every asset purchase you consider, you must perform due diligence with that asset to assess its profit potential and its exposure to taxes and liabilities, law suits and insurance claims.

Due diligence is the process of obtaining the facts about an investment required to make a reasonable assessment about the value, worth and potential cash flow of that asset.

Our definition of wealth hinges upon income or cash flow. So if you find what sounds like a great investment such as a factory selling for 10 cents on the dollar that produces canned beans, that sounds like a great investment until you discover that the factory is losing a million dollars a year and has liabilities that it will never be able to repay. Instead of bringing you money each month, it's costing you money each month. As Robert Kiyosaki, author of the "Rich Dad" series of books noted, such an investment is not an asset, it is a liability.

Robert's definition of an asset is anything that puts money into your pocket on a periodic basis while a liability does just the opposite - it takes money away from you.

That's a great definition because it focuses like a laser on the key principle of wealth - an asset that produces income.

Is it better to be rich or wealthy?

If you focus on being rich, your riches fluctuate with how the economy moves. Many "rich" people are living in a state that is precariously close to being broke. Many rich people have borrowed their way to the lifestyle they enjoy with debt far above their means. They risk losing everything they have chasing the phantom of being "rich."

Those who are wealthy can choose to be "rich" or not. They have the option of choosing the flashy lifestyle or they can choose a more conservative lifestyle.

If you choose wealth, the choice of lifestyle is an option you have. You can choose to use a portion of your income to finance a lifestyle of the "rich and famous" or you can use that same portion of income to invest in more wealth. The choice is yours and no one can judge you for whatever choice you make.

As long as a portion of your income is being used to invest in more wealth, you will never have to worry about going broke or being in so much debt that you are unsure if you will ever pay it off.

Being rich is about looking rich. You choose a lifestyle that others call 'rich." When you make this choice, you cannot make any other choice. Being wealthy is choosing the lifestyle you desire. Both are choices. Choosing to be rich is fraught with uncertainty. Your lifestyle is dependent upon the vagaries of the economy, good times and bad times, market fluctuations and business cycles. Choosing wealth is a certainty.

Choosing wealth is choosing tangible assets that throw off positive cash flow and protecting those assets with insurance and business entities so that they cannot be easily taken from you.

As you gain more wealth, your capacity to acquire additional assets will only increase. If you choose to focus on building wealth and the positive cash flow and passive income it produces, you will always have the option to choose the lifestyle you desire.

Is it better to be rich or wealthy?

The choice is yours.

Copyright 2016 by Perry Jones, All rights reserved.

http://kearsedgeboston.com

$DollarSign - Real Estate Crowdfunding

$DollarSign, Kearsedge Boston's platform for particpating real estate partnerships
is launching. Providing institutional quality real estate for accredited investors,
$DollarSign's team of experienced professionals scours the nation for commercial
real estate that represent the best investments.

$DollarSign expects to post at least one new opportunity on its platform each week.
With good returns on investment, high targeted IRRs and consistent monthly income,
$DollarSign is certain to provide investors with the real estate diversification
that investors seek.

All $DollarSign investments feature consistent monthly income with a share of
equity. Perry Jones, Vice President of Business Development for $DollarSign
states, "Our team seeks out the best investment grade commercial real estate
assets across the country. From the dozens of assets we review each week, we
expect to present just a single institutional quality opportunity that meets our
exacting standards and provides for a consistent monthly income at an above
average rate of return." For more information, please visit $DollarSign's
website here.

How to Get Double Digit Annual Returns

Double digit annual returns? Impossible? Not with private equity funds or hedge funds.

Until the market crash of 2008, many private equity funds and hedge funds enjoyed annual gains of 100% or more. Some of the highest flying funds realized returns of 20% or 30% or more each month.

With the market crash, monthly returns in the double digits are nearly impossible but annual double digit returns remain commonplace.

Private Equity funds and hedge funds were relatively unregulated until the Bernie Madoff scandal and other less notorious scandals spoiled the party.

Following the crash of 2008, the SEC has enacted a series of regulations that have held private equity fund and hedge fund managers more accountable and their actions more transparent.

From the 1990s to the early 2000s clear distinctions could be made between private equity funds and hedge funds, but over the last few years these terms have become essentially interchangeable.

A hedge fund or private equity fund is a largely unregulated business partnership in which the partners pool their capital in the hope of obtaining absolute returns. The primary difference between a private equity fund and a hedge fund is their investment focus or strategy. Private equity funds invest solely in private equity investments while hedge funds may invest in any type of investment.

An absolute return is a measure of gain or loss expressed as a percentage of the total invested. A private equity investment is a security or debt offering that is private – not open to the public. Only “sophisticated investors” may invest in private offerings. A sophisticated investor is an investor who is considered to have the range and depth of investing experience and knowledge to weigh the risks and merits of an investing opportunity.

Both private equity funds and hedge funds are structured as limited partnerships with the fund manager as the general partner.

Benefits and risks differ substantially from the more common investments such as public stock purchases, mutual funds, CDs or annuities. Private equity funds and hedge funds present a greater risk than more common investments because they seek absolute rather than relative returns. Because of this, the risk is also potentially higher but the reward can also be many times greater.

Mutual funds and other traditional investments seek relative returns which is a simple return on a year over year basis. The benefit in investing in a private equity fund or hedge fund is the potential to receive greater gains than other investments. The risk in these investments is the possibility of losing all your money to mismanagement, market fluctuations or fraud as the investors who trusted Bernie Madoff can attest. Because of these risks, private equity funds and hedge funds require investors to be sophisticated investors.

Participating in a private equity fund or hedge fund is open to any person or business that meets the SECs definition of a “sophisticated investor.” A sophisticated investor must also be an “accredited investor” which is any person who has a net worth of one million dollars or more and a net income of at least $200,000 in each of the previous two years. Businesses with assets of at least five million dollars or a president, general manager or director of such a firm and other entities such as banks, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and pension funds would also qualify as accredited investors.

Fees associated with private equity funds and hedge funds may vary but usually are divided into two types; a management fee and an incentive fee. A management fee – often 2% - is charged to the investor to participate in the fund. Incentive fees are performance based fees – typically 20% - and are awarded to the management team based on the absolute return generated by the fund.

Smaller funds are better. A smaller fund has distinct advantages over a larger fund in that it has a greater number of investments to choose from (how many 1 billion dollar investments are available?) and it is easier to achieve a higher level of return. A fund of one billion dollars would have to earn 100 million dollars to achieve a 10% return but a fund of 100 million dollars would have received a return of 100% on the same investment.

There are over 6,500 private equity and hedge funds. Some of the most well-known funds include Mitt Romney’s alma mater, Bain Capital, plus The Blackstone Group, Apollo Global Management, Warburg Pincus, Tiger Global, Davis Capital and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

Private equity funds and hedge funds vary widely in their risk parameters, investing strategies and entry requirements. Consultation with your financial advisor and or legal advisor is highly recommended prior to any investment.

This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not purport to provide financial or legal advice of any kind. Neither does it promote or disparage any fund or the private equity or hedge fund industry. Always consult with a financial advisor and or a legal advisor before making any investment decision and never, never invest more than you can afford to lose.

20 Sources of Passive Income

What do the rich do with their paycheck on pay day?

They invest it.

And now you can too.

If you truly want to get rich and live a life of luxury, then you must master the ability to generate cash flow from passive income sources. Without this ability, you may be stuck forever in your job - working for a living - wondering where the next paycheck is coming from or whether or not you'll even have a job tomorrow. This article presents some of the ways you can get out of the rat race by investing your hard-earned cash and begin living the lifestyle you desire. Passive income is the key.

But first, let's define what the word "rich" means:

Rich means having the wealth to live the lifestyle you desire.

Wealth is derived from income.

Income is a result of positive cash flow from passive investments.

This article will look at 20 sources of passive income, but we will not consider the risk factors nor the return on investment. We will be looking solely at the several sources that provide passive or near-passive income.

Before you begin any investment plan, the first rule is to consult with a qualified investment advisor. By talking over your plan and considering possibilities you may not have considered, you will protect your capital to the greatest degree and help protect it from potential loss while multiplying your return.

1. ETFs - Exchange Traded Funds - This is a fund that tracks the performance of an index such as the Dow Jones or Standard and Poor 500 or a basket of assets or commodity. Trading in the same manner as a stock, its price will vary according to the days' trading demands. Benefits of owning an ETF include the ability to sell short, buy on margin and to buy as little as one share. Expense ratios are often less than mutual funds. One common ETF is called a spider - SPDR - and tracks the S&P 500 Index. Look for the symbol SPY to research or to purchase.

2. Annuity - An annuity in the United States is a contract between you and an insurance company in which the insurance company is obligated to provide you with certain specific income over a period of time after you have contributed monthly payments over a period of years. To translate, an annuity is a period of monthly payments to you after you have paid in monthly payments to an insurance company. Annuities come in the form of fixed and variable annuities. Consult with your financial advisor or CPA to ascertain whether this is an appropriate investment option for you.

3. TIPS - Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities - Offered by the U.S Treasury, these are securities that are indexed to the rate of inflation meaning your dividend will increase as the rate of inflation increases. A TIPS pays interest every six months and pays the principal upon maturity. Also a conservative investment, you may want to consider these if you are looking to preserve and protect capital from the ravages of inflation while providing a consistent and dependable income, but your money may not grow at the rate you would prefer - but then we aren't looking at capital appreciation anyway.

4. Mutual Funds (Income Funds) - As we are only considering sources of passive income, we are only going to look at income mutual funds. These may be called "growth and income" funds or "income" funds or "value" funds. Nearly every mutual fund family will have their own set of income or growth and income funds. Morningstar(TM) and other services provide third party ratings that you can use to identify the safest and highest paying income funds. Invest wisely and always consult a qualified investment advisor before investing. Mutual funds are also required to send you a prospectus (a formal disclosure of the funds fees, objectives and operating guidelines) for your review before you can invest. Review the prospectus carefully and consult with your financial advisor for terminology you may not understand.

5. Dividend Paying Stocks - This is perhaps the most familiar method of passive income. Anyone who knows anything about Wall Street knows that companies pay dividends to people who own their stock. Right? Well, most of the time. Many newer and smaller companies will use their income to grow the company instead of paying dividends and any company that incurs financial trouble may stop paying dividends. So if you are going to buy stock to acquire the income make sure the company has a track record of paying dividends. The best known American companies - commonly referred to as the "Blue Chips" are also the companies that traditionally have paid dividends most consistently. As with all other investments, research is necessary to capture the best dividends and target those companies with the most  potential in future years.

6. REIT - Real Estate Investment Trust - One of my favorite investments because you own a portion of the real estate (or mortgages) the trust invests in. These also trade like a stock on the exchanges. An Equity REIT buys ownership (equity) in properties while a Mortgage REIT buys the mortgages on properties. Two key advantages to owning an REIT are the tax advantages and the liquidity of the security - you trade it just like a stock.

7.  T-Bills, T-Bonds & T-Notes - Treasury Bills, Treasury Bonds and Treasury Notes - Considered to be the safest of all investments because they are issued by the United States Treasury Department, these vehicles are also among the lowest yielding. But you sacrifice yield for security whenever you invest. T-Bills, Bonds and Notes are most often purchased through your bank, broker or they may be purchased directly from the US Treasury Department through their Treasury Direct online service. Although you will not receive a high rate of return, the security of your investment cannot be any higher than it is with these investments.

8. Bonds - A bond can provide a secure and stable source of income for anyone. By definition, a bond is a debt issued by an authorized organization - often a corporation, municipality or utility. A bond sells for the issue price, matures (is paid back to you) at the principal (face amount or nominal price) and in between you collect interest that is called the coupon rate. Bonds are often purchased in the form of mutual fund bond funds. Some of these can be very lucrative with a yield exceeding that of equity funds but these are often hard to find.

9. Canadian Oil and Gas Trust - This is an organization that invests in oil and/or gas production and possibly mining in Canada. Several of these are now trading on the American (US) exchanges. Purchase is the same as purchasing a stock in any other company. Tax advantages are similar to those of an REIT and a big advantage - the one I like the most - is that some of these trusts pay ridiculously high dividends - and they pay monthly! My advice: do your research, find a Canadian Oil and Gas Trust you like and then invest as much as you can.

10. MLP - Master Limited Partnership - Want a limited partnership that you can sell or trade as easily as a stock? Enter the Master Limited Partnership. These hybrid organizations feature the limited liability of a partnership while enabling you to trade the partnership units - investment units - just as you would a stock. What could be better? A MLP offers distributable cash flow as well as income. A Master Limited Partnership must be researched and understood before a reasoned decision can be made regarding the purchase of a MLP for your investment portfolio.

11. Business Ownership - No, this isn't what you think. Owning a small business for most people is worse than working 9 to 5. In your own small business you get caught up in the details, trying to make the business go, searching for a market, dealing with customers; it quickly becomes more than a full-time job. That's OK if that's what you love to do. But, what we mean here is starting a business or franchise with the short term goal of handing it off to someone to run. The faster you can do this the better. If you can do it from the very beginning so much the better - the more time you free for yourself, the more time you will have to enjoy and/or create more passive income sources. A book that will help you is The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber, another is The Four Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris. Both of these books will help you structure your business ownership in a way that frees you from actually running the business yourself - margaritas on the beach anybody?

12. Tax Liens and Notes - A primary benefit of tax liens is the higher interest rate you receive on your investment plus the fact that your principal is backed by real estate. Please note that you will almost never receive the property from investing in tax deeds, liens or notes; the primary benefit is the favorable interest rate and the security resulting from a real estate backed transaction. Avoid organizations that suggest you will be receiving the property the tax instrument is against. Another benefit of this type of passive income is that you can invest online from almost any state in the country - be sure to review Texas tax deeds, interest can be as high as 50% annually in some cases.

13. Preferred Stock - A Preferred Stock is a security issued by a corporation that usually features a specific dividend rate. Preferred stock usually does not have voting rights except sometimes in extraordinary events. Preferred stock also receives priority over common stock holders when dividends are distributed - preferred stock holders must be paid first. And preferred stock holders also receive preference if the company is ever dissolved. As always, research thoroughly before investing.

14. Asset-Backed Securities - These investments are issued by corporations and are based on a pool of underlying assets. The cash flow from these assets provide the dividend payments made to the holders of the security. The asset pool can consist of almost any type of asset which provides a cash flow. Usually sold initially to a market maker type organization such as an investment bank, these securities may be resold to the general public by the broker. Contact your broker for more information on these types of investments.

15. Real Estate - Almost everyone knows - or at least is intuitively aware - that big money can be made from real estate. Real estate provides tax advantages as well as the opportunity to leverage your investment - leverage being a factor that is limited or absent in many other investments. Many real estate advisors and gurus insist that the one house at a time or the flipper strategy or fixer upper or wholesale method or other flavor of the month is the absolute best way to make money in real estate. But, these are generally not passive investments - you usually have to put a lot of time and hard work into such strategies.

Making big money passively in real estate is possible with highly leveraged deals which are a certainty only in commercial property. Multiple family properties, office buildings, retail facilities and warehouses would all constitute commercial property. Of these, the best strategy is to invest in multiple family properties. The bigger, the better. This requires knowledge and education more than it requires capital. Capital can always be acquired through your network, but knowledge is the one ingredient that will make this passive investment strategy work. And, with a big property, the income from that one property may be all you need to secure your retirement - today!

16. Unit Investment Trust - A Unit Investment Trust is one of three different types of investment companies, the others being a closed end fund and the familiar mutual fund. UIT's offer securities in the form of "units" that represent a unit of their investment portfolio. This portfolio is often an unmanaged portfolio consisting of stocks and bonds. Units are usually sold in amounts of $1,000 and investors or "unit holders" receive dividends from the units they hold. A unique feature of a UIT is its termination date. Unlike most other corporations and investment company organizations, which exist in perpetuity, a UIT has a defined termination date which is established upon inception. When this date arrives the UIT is terminated and the assets held are sold. The proceeds from this sale are then distributed to the unit holders.

17. Covered Calls - This is a passive investment instrument that is often considered risky. But it is not. A covered call is selling the option to buy stock that you own. You do not sell the stock, you only sell the option to buy that stock at a future price and time. The person buying the covered call buys the option at the price you agree upon - actually at which the market agrees upon - and you just set back and forget it. Well, not quite. The person who has bought the option has the right to buy your stock at any time between the time you sold the option and the expiration of that option. Writing (selling) a covered call is the only options investment that is considered safe enough by the IRS to be included in a 401K or other retirement plan. But you must do your homework and thoroughly understand the world of options before using this method.

18. Private Lending - Private lending has been around since people have been around. Essentially private lending is nothing more than lending out some of your excess cash to a trustworthy person who needs it. This has not always been easy or fruitful for the person who has had money they wanted to invest. As a result, several online services are now available that will accept your money and distribute it under your direction to those you feel are qualified; search for person to person lending or private lending on the major search engines to identify organizations you can use. The primary benefit of private lending is that the interest rates are often much higher than you would obtain by parking your money in a CD or bank, but the risks are much higher.

19. Music Publishing - You don't know about music publishing? The artist may get the glory (and often the money) but the publisher Always gets the money. If you own the rights to a song or sheet music you are the publisher and you get paid whenever that song is played or performed in public. Although the current rate is only 8 cents (US) per "performance" think of all the radio stations, bars and clubs in the country where your song may be being played right now. Yes, bars and restaurants must pay you whenever your song is played in their establishment. You don't have to worry about going around to each bar, hotel lobby or elevator or restaurant (More places!) in the country to collect your eight cents - this is handled by any one (or some combination) of just three organizations which pretty much manage all music throughout the world - ASCAP, BMI and for the internet SoundExchange. Yes, you do need to register with these organizations so they know where to send your checks, but this can be a very lucrative source of passive income.

20. Copyrights, Patents and Licenses - If you are an author you get paid every time a book of yours is sold. Ok, this is obvious, but you can also republish public domain material under a new copyright if you change it by at least 20% or add at least 20% more material to it. The easy part (some would say not easy) is the writing of the book itself. The hard part is getting other people to buy it, that involves marketing which is beyond the scope of this article, but if you can get a bestseller on your hands, the royalties (payments you receive from being the copyright holder) received can be very high.

A patent is an innovation (process) or invention (thing). You get paid when the item represented by the patent is used or sold by some other organization or the public. The patent protects your right to exclusive ownership of that process or invention for a certain amount of time.

A license is also possible to sell to the market. What if you know a particular process or procedure that no one else does? Can you sell this knowledge? Yes, you can. And the way to do it is to license an organization to use your knowledge in the form of a process or procedure. Check out inventright.com for a guide on how to do this.

Bonus

21. Movie & Other Obscure Investments - We live in a dynamic world and there will always be investment vehicles being conceived for a need. Also, more obscure investments are available but generally are unknown outside of their particular industry. Movie investments are one of these. Movies often need financiers ready to fund the production of the movie project. When the movie is released to the public and begins to make money the financiers receive their capital and return on investment. This can be a good way to make a lot of money if you back a blockbuster or a good way to lose a lot of money - look at how many movies do poorly. Do not invest in this vehicle unless you thoroughly understand the risk factors. RelativityMedia provides a means to invest in film production.

Other obscure investments include exploration financing, water rights, coal leases, limited partnerships, commercials and commercial funding (yes, tv commercials and infomercials), receivables financing, sports team ownership, mining rights, timber leases, taxi sub-leasing, master tenant, etc, etc, etc. If you have an interest in investing in any of these areas you need to find someone with excellent knowledge of the field and with a good track record in investing in that industry. Consult with them intensely allowing them to guide your investment decisions. Generally, the best policy is to invest only in those areas where you are familiar and never, never invest more than you can afford to lose.

22. Income Options - Income Options is a strategy. Generally, when you have a fuller understanding of the options industry and how it works, you can take a look at this strategy. The Income Options strategy is using call and put options in the same underlying stock to create a net credit spread. This credit is then applied to your account. Although there are several services that will manage this strategy for you, you need to fully understand this strategy prior to any investment in this vehicle.

Summary

Passive income investing is the key to securing income. Income is cash flow. Cash flow is king. You cannot invest future income or a projected return or an eventual equity position; you can only invest the cash you have on hand today. Likewise, you cannot pay bills or buy groceries or pay the mortgage or tax man with anything other than cash or credit. A projected return or equity position will not pay today’s bills or put food on the table. Capital appreciation is great - for tomorrow. I prefer cash in hand today. The more cash flow you have coming in now, the greater that tomorrow will be.

This article is provided for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to provide financial, investment or legal advice. Obtain such advice only from a certified, licensed professional. Many of the aforementioned strategies are available only for "accredited investors." On an individual basis, an accredited investor is a natural person who has received an income of at least $200,000 in each of the previous two years ($300,000 if married) and expects the same this year and has a net worth of at least one million dollars.

Investing bears inherent risk. Never invest without obtaining competent advice from a licensed professional who understands your goals and your investment strategy and plans. Never invest more than you can afford to lose.

The author holds investments in one or more of the aforementioned vehicles.