In the aftermath of the global credit crunch and the years of decline in the old job-for-life culture at most large companies, more and more people are leaving behind traditional fixed employment and setting up their own businesses. Whether they run a small company or work in the contracting sector, most self-employed workers will start off working from home. And at a time in their business life when they will probably need to be working harder and concentrating harder than they ever have before, working from their home can often be a less than ideal atmosphere.  It is one of the ironies of moving to freelancing or contracting that you have escaped the structured routine of office life, but then find it difficult to work at home without that same structured routine. Most home workers find it very difficult to maintain discipline and not get distracted from their work once they are in a non – office environment.

Nothing is more endearing and inspiring than a true "rags to riches" story. Everybody dreams of achieving success and enjoying fame and wealth. Here are five examples of people that started with nothing and managed to reach the top.

Baby boomers have seen the most prosperous economic times in their youth. It is estimated that a larger part of global wealth is still owned and controlled by baby boomers.  Now as majority of that generation reaches the retirement age, the economic conditions are not very favorable. However, as they have always been a lucky generation, they are still lucky enough to be retiring in a time where there are many investment opportunities.

Returns on investment or ROI is a commonly heard term in conversations nowadays. Any effort in terms of time and money must yield returns. If taken literally, ROI is the benefit or return that accrues on an investment divided by the cost incurred on that investment. However, most time ROI crops up when one expects some returns for the effort put in.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s the Irish economy was referred to as the Celtic Tiger. Phenomenal growth in GDP occurred year after year, fuelled by high tech, service and construction industries. Anyone who visited Dublin in the past decade will have abiding memories of the city looking like one massive building site. Ireland had a highly educated population to provide the workers in these industries, 90,000 jobs were created every year and the country imported large numbers of workers from all over Europe to keep up with demand for skilled labor. Now, in 2011, the economy has all but collapsed and at the end of 2010 the Irish government had no other option but to ask for a multi billion pound bail out from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union. So where did it all go wrong?

One of the keys to building wealth is to have multiple streams of income. Your income is, after all, the main thing that you can leverage when it comes to wealth building. Some people, though, just aren’t sure how to get multiple streams of income coming in to their lives. If you have talents in the right areas, it may not be all that difficult. With time and work, you can start generating different types of income for your family. When you manage that money well, you’ll be able to build wealth, pass on money to the next generation, and eventually enjoy the spoils of your hard work.

Spread betting has thrived since the dotcom crash of 2002 and seemed to escape relatively unscathed as a strategy in the aftermath of the credit crunch. Although now regarded as a “legitimate” investment strategy, at its core spread-betting is still gambling, not investing. You are taking a punt on the future movement (either up or down) of a share price, index or a commodity just as you would on a race track.  

If you have a good credit score, you might be able to get a bank loan for almost all of your long term and short term goals. Yet, the biggest financial goal of any individual must be achieving complete personal financial independence. However, it is an unfortunate fact that more than 23% of Americans are under debt which they consider unmanageable. Also, half of the population has less than one month of saving for emergencies while 20% of them don’t have any saving at all.

Looking over the Morning Star ETF Performance Table I find four ETFs with nice performance over the past month in addition to having decent volume. I have been active in the call option contracts for both Ultra Oil & Gas (DIG) and Daily Energy Bull 3X (ERX). Both have performed well over the past month with good company earnings and strong commodity (oil) prices in addition to unrest in the Middle East.

Selling a business is not as straightforward as putting a house on the market, and there are many things that must be taken into consideration. As with any major sale, getting a deal can take time so being prepared will help the process run as smoothly, and quickly, as possible.