This is an urgent call to care for your Self, and not become someone small and dependent, a poor little girl in her eighties or nineties.

CREATE YOUR WEALTH-BUILDING CIRCLE NOW. Here are my Nine Notes for finding your Personal Financial Trainer.

1. CREATE YOUR PROSPERITY CIRCLE NOW: Start interviewing for your Prosperity Circle members this week. Make a list of six other people who have financial experience greater than your own. Call them and make an appointment to visit with them. Find out if any of them uses a financial advisor. Plan to include six to seven people in your personal Prosperity Circle. Ask/interview to find these people.

2. ACT: Call three financial advisors. Get them from the phone book if you have no other sources. Make an appointment to visit with them. Let them know you are shopping for a long-term consultant to your financial interests. Ask for one hour and do not abuse the persons time.

3. PREPARE: Prepare for this meeting by writing down the following and sharing the exact same information with each of the three:

YOUR INCOME: Your current annual income and whether you anticipate specific increases or decreases over the next five years.

YOUR AGE: Your current age.

YOUR SAVINGS: Your savings rate. You CAN save. (You can link to www.goldafter50.com/budget.html to see how to budget.)

YOUR TIMELINE: Your estimated time in the market before you plan to begin withdrawing assets from the plan your Financial Advisor will create with you. (The longer you can stay in the market, the more probable it is that you will achieve higher returns.)

YOUR LATE LIFE INCOME: Many people today do not ever want to retire. They want to work at something they care about, perhaps not as many hours, but they still want the human interaction and recognition that comes from meaningful work. Getting some income from this activity will influence the amount of money that you will need in the last quarter of your life. And you can expect long life, based on current statistics and your personal health history. YOUR PLAN: Ask if the professional is willing to create a unique plan for youand if he/she has some initial ideas about your plan.

4. FEELINGS: Your selection will be an emotional and intellectual choice. Consider your instincts when you meet with these prospective consultants to your life. How did you feel about the meeting? Were you respected? Were you heard? Were you patronized? Could you share difficulties if necessary? Would this professional keep your life secrets? Could you trust this person? TRUST YOUR OWN INSTINCTS!

5. FOCUS: Was this professional INTERESTED in you? Did he/she ask about your life? Your hopes? Your values? Your closely held dreams that require resources?

6. RECALL: Could this person summarize the information that you shared? Could you see yourself working with this person for many years to come? On a scale of one to ten, how highly would you rate the listening skills of the Financial Advisor?

7. PRODUCTS: Did the advisor attempt to hard sell you products immediately, having an easy answer and instant solution? (making you one of a crowd) Did the advisor explain anything about products in clear and easy to understand language?

8. ROLE MODEL: Is this advisor going to be a good personal role model? Ask what products and programs he/she uses to personally achieve sound financial health. If your advisor is not willing to share this information, choose another. Too many professionals are not willing to live what they advise.

9. SERVICE RECORD: What studies has your prospective advisor completed? These can be life lessons learned as well as degree/certification programs. (Not all certified professionals are professional!) How has your prospective advisor served other clients? What would they say about how successful his/her strategies have been from their perspective. Ask about the privacy policy, then ask if he/she have any clients who have granted permission to provide references. (Sometime compliance issues prevent this.) Find out why your prospective advisor chose this line of service. You want someone who does believe that financial advising is a powerful and meaningful service career.

Once you have identified your advisor or Personal Financial Trainer, ask if she/he will meet with your Prosperity Circle from time to time. Work to establish a regular commitment of time that each of you will make to building prosperity for the long term.