In my entrepreneurial journey, I follow a simple but powerful wealth building strategy: secure and diversify.

Secure means I secure a portion of income I received from my businesses, whether it’s online or offline, to some forms of protection: insurance, certificate of deposits (I don’t like the interest rate, but it’s a save haven for me) and precious metals.

Diversify means I invest another portion of income in order to make my money work harder for me, in the form of businesses, real estates and stocks.

But, first-thing first – have you protect your income?

Income protection: what and how

Whether you own a business or self-employed (sole proprietorship), you need to think of protection measures to secure your hard-earned cash.

If you own a business, you need to protect your revenue and cash flow by taking insurance that protect your business. Don’t forget to form a legal entity for your business (i.e. LLC) to protect yourself from losses and any legal actions. You should also invest, invest and invest – investing is a form of income protection for businesses!

If you are self-employed, you need to protect your income by taking a form of income protection insurance, that typically pays out a regular income if you are unable to work due to illness, disability or sickness.

Protecting your income by investing

Investing is essential if you want to adopt secure-and-diversify strategy.

I understand that most people would say, “well, investing is cool – but what about the risk?”

Risk, my friend, if you do nothing and hide your money under your pillow :)

You see, there are certain investments that are low in risk yet considerable in return. Of course, if you asked me, I would answer investing in businesses is the best form of investment.

Consider investing in precious metals, for example – not that it will not drop in value – because it does to some extent, but the security and ever-increasing value of investment that matters most. Consider gold – in recession the price of gold rises accordingly to oil prices – so, even in bad times, precious metal investment is lucrative.

My suggestion: insure and invest

To secure and diversify, you need to insure and invest.

Insure your income, invest it wisely, and stop thinking of lavishing your money for a while. You will notice that delayed gratification will bring you more, at a faster rate than you think. Trust me, I’ve been there – lived lavishly and ran out of money no matter how much I made.

Start prioritising well, and your priorities will allow you enjoy your hard-earned money, as well as securing it well.

Ivan Widjaya
Secure and diversify