Walk in with your W-2 and walk out minutes later with your tax refund. This service is available from many tax preparation companies. It may sound too good to be true. That’s because it is. 

That speedy refund is costing you big time. You see, it’s not really your tax refund. You are actually borrowing your own money and paying interest on it. It’s called the refund anticipation loan (RAL).

RALs are trotted out every year by tax preparers like H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt. These companies front you the money you expect to get back from the IRS. Then you don’t have to suffer through the one- or two-week wait if you file online directly with the IRS.

In exchange for your rapid refund, you pay significant up-front interest charges. Those charges can eat away as much 10 percent of your total refund, according to a Georgetown University study. On top of that, you pay fees for the privilege of having a temp fill out your tax return and file it with the IRS. If you choose to have your loan deposited directly in your back account, that’s another fee. Put the loan on a debit card? Another fee, plus usage fees.

RALs are perfect for the impatient and the broke. Low-income earners make up the biggest part of this market. And it’s no surprise that college students are targeted heavily in ads for this "service." People turn to tax prep companies when they don’t understand IRS forms. They often don’t realize they are signing up for a loan, let alone that they are paying huge fees.

If you have a complicated financial situation, you should probably contact a CPA. Otherwise, there are plenty of helpful free resources available in your community and online. Then you can file your own return, at no charge, with the IRS at IRS.gov, with either eFile or Free File. You’ll have your refund in your bank account in as little as a week. 

Two tax prep resources to look into are:

• Volunteer Income Tax Assistance: Call 1-800-TAX-1040 or go to tax-coalition.org to find trained volunteers in your area.
• AARP’s Tax-Aide program for seniors: Go to aarp.org/money/taxaide/.

How would you like to make more money in an hour than professional basketball and baseball players, not to mention Fortune 500 CEOs?

It’s possible. I’ve done it. I’ve done it without cold calling or working 18-hour days, seven days a week. And now I’m going to show you how you can do it too.

Last year, I sold $1 million in training in 27 days for my Teleseminar Secrets program. I did it from a home-based office in Northern California with just one part-time employee. After spending a few hours selling "seats," I discovered that I was making $25,000 an hour for about 41 hours of work.

Do the math and you’ll discover that this dollar-per-hour figure outranks that of many elite athletes, not to mention that it puts me on the top-10 list of the highest income CEOs of multi-billion-dollar companies.

So how did I do it?

I chose to do the training via a teleseminar or teleconference – which would allow me to reach many people at once, rather than trying to train them one-on-one. (There aren’t enough hours in a day for me to make big money by training people individually.)

A teleseminar is basically a phone call where hundreds of people can listen to the training and interact with the instructor. With the teleseminar, not only can I reach all of these people at one time, I can still give them a taste of "me" while I’m doing it. They feel like they’re getting a personalized training approach, and it doesn’t take me thousands of hours to accomplish it. That’s the real power of the teleseminar – achieving maximum productivity with minimum effort.

I’ve been doing teleseminars since 1999, which has allowed me to perfect the technique. The "one-on-many" approach is what makes this the fastest, easiest, and most economical of all the communication media on earth. Case closed.

Putting on your own teleseminar is easy. All you need is a bridge line (a telephone system that can connect hundreds of callers at once), a good marketing plan, and something useful and worthwhile to discuss during the call.

1. Setting Up a Bridge Line

One of the bridge lines I use is InstantTeleWebcast.com, which gives you unlimited use for $47 a month. You can also look into Voicetext.com, a service I’ve used on many occasions.

2. Filling Your Tele-Seats

In order to fill the seats for my Teleseminar Secrets program, I used direct-response marketing methods. One direct-response sales letter can sell hundreds or thousands of people at the same time. It doesn’t require a salesperson. The marketing materials do the selling for you. And if you put your promotional material on a website, the marketing materials are doing the selling 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So, again, you are reaching many people as efficiently as possible.

How, exactly, did I fill the seats?

I put together a $20 content-rich preview teleseminar. I paid my affiliates $18 of that $20 for every sale of the preview teleseminar that was made through them, plus a percentage if the buyer purchased the complete program. That way, they were motivated to promote my call.

During the preview teleseminar, I explained the offer, then sent the participants to my website, where they could read my sales letter and make the purchase.

3. Coming Up With Teleseminar-Worthy Topics

You can talk about almost anything in a teleseminar. Just make sure it’s a topic that will be useful for your audience. Here are four ideas to get you started:

• Customer-Appreciation Calls: In this type of teleseminar, you give online tutorials or new information about your products to your existing customers.

Here’s how it works: Contact people who have already purchased a product from you and offer them a free follow-up where they can ask questions for an hour. It’s basically a personal consultation on a one-on-many basis. It doesn’t make you money instantly – but it does create extremely loyal, appreciative customers who will turn around and tell their friends, colleagues, blog readers, etc., all about your products and customer devotion. Plus, customers who are happy with your service are more likely to buy more from you.

• Public Tele-Critiques: In these teleseminars, one or two participants get to carry on a dialog with experts.

Here’s how it works: One of the participants puts her website or marketing plan up on the "chopping block," and the experts explain what she is doing right, what she is doing wrong, and what improvements she can make. The rest of the participants learn through listening to the critique. (You can charge extra for people to get the chance to get advice from you or an expert, or you can offer critiques to valued customers as a gift.)

• Prospecting Calls: These (recorded or live) teleseminars offer useful information meant to inspire prospects to buy your products.

Here’s how it works: Each week or month, you conduct an "ask campaign," where you ask your prospects what they want to learn about a specific topic that is somehow related to your product line. You answer their questions in the teleseminar … and if you do it right, you convert them into customers. At the same time, their questions give you ideas for new products and new marketing approaches.

Another form of the prospecting call is to present an abbreviated form of an expensive program that you’re selling… with the intention of enticing them into buying the full program. That’s what I do with my Teleseminar Secrets program. I invite prospects to a free or low-cost preview. During the preview, I give an hour-long overview of the eight-week program, including plenty of useful, actionable advice that people can put to work without buying anything extra – though it’s also beneficial for people who go on to buy the entire program. Since the people who buy the entire program will have had an overview of what it covers, they are actually learning some of the material twice and, therefore, end up getting more out of it.

• Expert-Interview Calls: In this type of teleseminar, you pay a well-known expert in your field to take part in the call. Then you sell tickets to people who would be interested in hearing what your expert has to say.

Here’s how it works: During the call, you ask the expert questions that will be useful to your callers. And you pocket the difference between what you pay him and what you bring in through ticket sales.

I’ve done money-making interviews with some of today’s most influential entrepreneurs, authors, direct marketers, and professional speakers, including Steven Covey, Mark Victor Hansen, Brian Tracy, Harvey Mackay, Les Brown, Robert Allen, Michael Gerber, James Ray, Jay Conrad Levinson, Joe Sugarman, T. Harv Eker, Joe Polish, Vic Conant, David Bach, Jay Abraham, Jack Canfield, and many others.

People like this usually charge hundreds – if not thousands – of dollars for an hour of their time. Which means that my teleseminar attendees get a huge deal by only paying $47 or so to hear me pick their brains. The expert provides the content for the call – and I look like a hero for giving my attendees the information.

That’s all there is to it.

Set up a bridge line… fill your tele-seats… and come up with an audience-pleasing topic. Put these three steps to work, and you’ll have the beginnings of a successful, profitable teleseminar business. This is the model I’ve used to make $25,000 an hour… and now you can do it too.

[Ed. Note: Alex Mandossian, CEO of Heritage House Publishing Inc., has generated over $233 million in sales and profits for his clients and partners via "electronic marketing" media such as TV infomercials, online catalogs, 24-hour recorded messages, voice/fax broadcasting, teleseminars, webinars, podcasts, and Internet marketing since 1991. You can get Alex’s insights into information marketing this fall at ETR’s Info Marketing Bootcamp. To get free instant access to Alex Mandossian’s blog on Electronic Marketing, please visit AlexMandossian.com.]

To double your money every three years, you need an average yearly profit of about 26 percent. Does 26 percent seem like an easy target? Or a hard one?

When I look at my own investing track record, here’s what I see.

• Stocks: I buy mostly no-load index funds and some blue chips. On average, over the years, I’ve done about as well as the market has done over the last 100 years – i.e., about 10 percent I do believe I could do better with stocks. I know plenty of people – including some of the investment specialists at Agora Publishing – who do. If I followed their advice consistently and carefully, I believe I could get 15 percent to 18 percent a year on my stocks. That’s not enough to double my money every three years, but it could still make me rich over time.
• Low-Cap Stocks: I tried them for a while, and lost lots of money. So I stopped.
• Bonds: I buy AAA munis and I don’t trade them, so I get market rates. Over the past 25 years, I’ve probably averaged about 4.5 percent – which, at my tax bracket, amounts to about 7 percent before taxes. Seven percent doubles every nine years. That won’t increase my wealth significantly, but it will protect it from stock market losses and (usually) from inflation. I have about 50 percent of my liquid investments – 15 percent of my net worth – in bonds.
• Options: Never tried them.
• Currency Trading: Never did it.
• Rental Real Estate: I’ve been doing this for about 20 years. I’ve gotten better with experience. Counting my early mistakes, I’ve averaged about 18 percent I am very happy with my rental real estate investments, and I think that by applying what I’ve learned I can do a little better in the future. I wouldn’t expect to earn 26 percent a year in real estate, though.
• Buy-Build-and-Flip Real Estate: I got into and out of this game with good timing. I made millions during the 1990s – making 50 percent or 100 percent on individual transactions almost seemed "normal." As prices became insane, I pulled out. (All of this was documented in ETR.) And except for the foolish mistake of letting a partner buy three houses that I knew with certainty were overpriced in 2002, I never lost money on a deal. Overall, I averaged about 30 percent to 35 percent per year, annualized over 10 years, but I don’t believe I will have this opportunity again for a long time. I do like the idea of investing in other areas (which Justin Ford recommends), and I’m doing some of that. But I’m not expecting 26 percent on these investments.
• Passive Real Estate Investing: I’ve been investing in a friend’s real estate deals for about 15 years. The returns have been up and down – and I’ve had a chance to learn a lot about the development business during that time – but overall my ROI with him has been about 14 percent
• Overseas Development: I bought a lot of overseas real estate in the past 15 years. My returns have been generally very good on that – 50 percent or better. But I am not doing much of it now. It has become a much more selective market.
• Small Businesses: The one area of investing that has given me the greatest returns – well in excess of 26 percent – has been my investments in small businesses. Although individual businesses that I’m involved in vary greatly (a few lose money, a few linger at breakeven, a few make modest profits, and a handful hit the jackpot), I’ve probably averaged more than a 50 percent per-year return for the first 10 to 15 years on all of my start-up ventures. Counting the older businesses too (which have much slower equity growth) and the occasional failures, I would say that my overall ROI on small business investments has been more than 35 percent

Start-up businesses have given me so much – a steady growth of income, a base of wealth that has doubled every three years, the opportunity to get involved in so many other, interesting investments, and a rich and stimulating business life.

Because of the nature of what I did – getting involved in dozens of start-up businesses, including two direct-marketing companies that were essentially holding companies for start-ups, I’ve had the chance to participate in hundreds of launched businesses over the past 25 years. I’ve seen, and made, every mistake that you can possibly imagine. And I’ve seen some very successful launches too.

Although I sometimes grouse about working too hard, I have to admit that I love starting new businesses. It’s so much fun. And it’s something I know how to do. When I start a business these days, I am confident it will work. I didn’t always have that confidence. And I didn’t always deserve it. But gradually, over 25 years, I accumulated a little guidebook in my mind that gives me good advice on what will work and what will not.

For the past year, I’ve been trying to transcribe that mental book onto paper. The result is going to be my next book: Ready… Fire… Aim, being published next January by John Wiley & Sons.

So if you were to ask me, as an ETR reader recently did, "What is the absolute fastest way to become rich?" I’d have to answer: by starting a small business.

That’s my answer. It doesn’t mean it is your answer. You may not want to invest the time, creativity, and energy that it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. You may be retired already and determined not to give up your daily golf game. If investing in your own small business is not for you, then I recommend you look into stock investing and real estate. I don’t think you should expect to safely double your money every three years that way, but you can certainly do as well as or better than I have.

But if you do think you’d like to be an entrepreneur, you will be rewarded for it. Not only can you double (or even triple) your money every three years, you can also enjoy the many other benefits of being your own boss:

• the freedom to choose your own schedule
• the power to create your own products
• the excitement of being fully challenged
• the knowledge that you are providing an income for your employees

My friend Anna W. asked me to help her start a business based on her love of music. She’d been looking over her current retirement plan, and figured out that if she keeps her present job and continues to increase her responsibility and her income, she will be able to have a comfortable retirement in 14 years (at age 67).

That’s not bad. Most people in her age bracket won’t do that well.

But if she puts her energy and resources into creating a successful business of her own, she can look forward to a much better return on her "investment."

Anna is going to start her new business on the side, working evenings and weekends. She’s going to find a partner to back her, develop her product, and take it to market. When we went over the numbers, it became clear to Anna that this secondary business – if it is successful (and I’m pretty sure it will be) – will allow her to achieve her retirement goals in five years instead of 14, while she is still relatively young.

At that point, she can do whatever she wants to do with the rest of her life.

That’s what a business can do for you.

Think about your own financial situation. Are you okay as you are – or would it be helpful to triple your money every three years?

If you need that kind of way-above-average ROI in your life, you simply have to consider starting your own business. Don’t quit your day job. Just get something going on the side. You don’t have to invest a ton of money or work endless hours. You can do well starting small.

Here are five proven (and absolutely true, in my experience) secrets of highly successful entrepreneurs that will help turn you into a business-building genius.

Secret No. 1: Don’t spend too much time planning.

When you are entering a market, you don’t know (and couldn’t possibly understand) the hidden problems and challenges you will face. You won’t understand those problems until you make a few mistakes. And you won’t solve them (and go on to making a success of your new business) unless you are capable of changing directions quickly.

Most successful new businesses (probably 90 percent of them) end up following practices that are different than anticipated. That’s why it doesn’t pay to spend too much time and money planning. Do a reasonable amount of noodling. Figure out the big strokes and give yourself a bail-out option. Then go for it. He who can adapt wins.

Secret No. 2: Don’t spend too much money.

The vast majority of business start-ups that succeed do so on a limited budget. Almost none of them have the benefit of venture-capital funding.

The great majority of new businesses are hampered (and enhanced) by flying on empty. People involved in businesses that have limited funds must think harder, work harder, and (most important) sell harder. Their primary initial effort is to bring in the cash. And that’s how it should be. There is only one thing that will surely stop any business in its tracks – and that’s a lack of money. Ironically, limited capital usually means a quicker and stronger cash flow.

Secret No. 3: Get operational fast.

The most common reason for new product/project failures is wasting time getting ready. Between making overlong and expensive business plans, endlessly tinkering with the product, fooling around with focus groups, and second-guessing yourself, it’s easy to let a good product/project lose its steam.

Bootstrappers don’t mind starting with a copycat idea targeted to a small market. Imitation saves the cost of market research – and the start-up entering a small market is unlikely to face competition from large, established companies.

Secret No. 4: Go for the quick cash first.

Contrary to what some business books tell you, successful entrepreneurs admit that they take the fastest route to cash when launching a new venture. They do so because they don’t have a choice. (See Secret No. 2.) After the cash starts coming in, they have the time and funds to improve the product, enhance customer service, and refine operations.

Keep in mind that the best-laid plans are often arrogant. You don’t know for sure how to best serve the market. When launching a new business or product, figure out how you can get to breakeven fastest. This kind of noodling will force you to pay closer attention to the market.

Secret No. 5: Forget about the crack team; you are it.

Successful entrepreneurs don’t hire experts to run their businesses. They figure it out for themselves. When it comes to making your new product/project work, rely on nobody but yourself to make sure it gets done right. It may be stressful and time-consuming to do a lot of extra work, but it will pay in the long run. You will understand the project in an intimate, extremely valuable way.

[Ed. Note: Michael Masterson and his team of extraordinary entrepreneurs will be revealing all their strategies for getting a brand-new business of the ground… and making an existing business grow like crazy. Reserve your spot at this fall’s Info Marketing Bootcamp today to get the benefit of their expertise.]

If you’re like a lot of people, one of your top financial goals is to increase your income to "seven figures". But "seven figures" can mean wildly different things… and if you have a net worth of $1 million, you’ll be living much differently than you would with a net worth of $9 million.

In his brand-new book, Seven Years to Seven Figures: The Fast-Track Plan to Becoming a Millionaire, Michael Masterson suggests that you ask yourself, "Would a net worth of $1 million be enough?"

Here’s how you can find out.

Start a list of regular monthly expenses: mortgage payments or rent, bills, car payments, grocery bills, etc. (You can estimate these costs as they would apply to your dream house, dream car, etc.)

Add to this an estimated cost of the activities that are important to you each month — tennis lessons, dinner and a movie with your spouse, a weekend trip out of state, etc.

Now add the estimated cost of those things that would make up your dream lifestyle — a new Ferrari, two-week vacations to the Caribbean, scuba diving gear, a sail boat, lunch once a week with your sister, etc.

Add in the cost of anything else we may have forgotten.

Multiply by 12.

Your total represents the cost of living your dream lifestyle for one year.

If your dream lifestyle total is…

• … less than $65,000 you should aim for a net worth of $1 million

• … between $65,000 and $160,000, you should aim for a net worth of $1.5 million to $2.5 million

• … between $160,000 and $358,000, you should aim for a net worth of $3 million to $5.5 million

• … between $358,000 and $585,000 you should aim for a net worth of $6 million to $9 million

How much wealth do you need to accumulate to live the lifestyle of your dreams?