On my Successful Thinker Podcast, I had the unique advantage of interviewing several multi-millionaires, investment specialists, and life coaches who gave me a window into the mind's of the world's smartest money managers.

We've all heard it said that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, but no one ever tells us WHY that is.

A lot of it I have been told has to do with how a person handles money and investment when times get tough.

Poor people whine and cry, refuse to make any behavior changes, and set to work finding someone to blame for their misfortunes.

The rich, and the super rich EXPECT DIFFICULTIES, and put plans into place to maximize the opportunities that those difficulties present.

"But Corey, I cannot afford to lose money in my retirement plan!! What will I do?" my broke friends often ask.

"When do you plan to retire?" I always ask first.

"I don't know, probably 15 or 20 years" they tell me.

"Well then great" I say excitedly.

"Great?!? I'm down 5K this year!! Yeah, that is JUST great!!" they bluster out looking at me like I am the enemy.

It is at that point that I share the 3 Secrets That Smart Investors Use When The Market Goes To Shit!

SECRET #1 Buy When Others Are Selling!

If you are making weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly contributions to your retirement plans or your investment funds, you want to buy at the lowest possible prices. History shows the market WILL recover. When prices are up you have to pay a premium every time you buy, but when prices are down, you are buying your investments on sale.

When prices go back up, you will make back far more than the loses you are showing on paper today.

If you aren't retiring for 15 years, today's prices may make you feel better if they are good, but only make you rich or poor on paper. So you want them to be down while you are buying and you want to time your retirement for when they are on the rise.

SECRET #2 THE MAGIC OF DOLLAR COST AVERAGING

Poor people don't want to purchase investments or contribute to their retirement at regular, predefined increments, and they think of their investments in the same way they think of bills so they invest less frequently than rich people do.

Rich people understand that if they make smaller investments at more frequent intervals, they then are always poised to buy when the market is low, and on AVERAGE they are able to buy MORE investment shares at better prices as the year goes by.

If you always have money being invested, you always are buying the best deal in town. Over time this decreases your losses and maximizes your gains when the market is up.

But to do this, you have to max out secret #3.

Secret #3 Pay Yourself FIRST

Whenever you get paid or receive an unexpected inflow of capital of ANY kind, make the decision today that going forward you will put 20% of the total into savings. 

It took me a long time to get the power of this simple idea, but the absolute worst use of money is to not have any when an opportunity comes your way.

The ideal way to save is through payroll deduction through your employer. Get your money out of your hands before you even get it if possible.

The second best way is to open a special savings account which you fund with any money that falls out of the sky and never, ever touch until it adds up to something that gives you options.

Most people don't understand that the real value of money is the options money can create for you. 

Creating options takes time.

The best time to start building options was ten years ago.

The second best time is right NOW!

Think of your future self 5 years from now.

Will she be regretting the decisions YOU made today, or would she be thanking you for taking the required actions that give her the much needed options HER future depends on.

In our next post we will discuss option building in much greater detail, but for now, just remember this: the person who creates the most options for themselves WINS!!